


White Instinct

by DreamingParadise14, xxwhiterose



Series: White Rose Fanfics - Multichapter [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe-Aged Up, Connections By Aura, Emotional Trauma, F/F, Fake Identities, Illegal Freedom, Platonic Sunflakes, References to Canon, Rekindling, Ruby is grieving, Semi-slowburn, Traveling, Weiss is trying her best, Winter is a good sister, broken trust, emotional angst, lost family, minor child abuse, trainhopping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:42:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25991533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamingParadise14/pseuds/DreamingParadise14, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxwhiterose/pseuds/xxwhiterose
Summary: [Update Schedule: 4th of Every Month]“Weiss Schnee was last seen in Vale, where she was later pronounced dead. No body has been recovered as of yet, but they are still searching.”She didn't even recognize the person staring back at her through the reflection of the mirror. She wasn’t even spared a single glance, it was like she wasn’t even there. She could walk freely without being recognized.“You have your mother's eyes.”It was too late to turn back now. She has nowhere to go and she has a little girl depending on her for survival, because of her own foolishness.“She's alive.”The woman tenses beneath her touch, having regained a little bit of consciousness, and Ruby glances over to her, silver eyes meeting with a puzzled, yet disoriented pair of  foggy blue. She was still responsive.“Everything that I was afraid would happen, actually happened.”
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Series: White Rose Fanfics - Multichapter [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053833
Comments: 15
Kudos: 90





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I've been planning for a long time now, it's been in my head for two years at the most and I've taken things from this story to include in my other fanfics.
> 
> I never believed I would ever write this... 'White Instinct' has a special place in my heart as it was one of my first story ideas. So I really want to thank everybody who helped me complete the planning of WI, it means a lot and I greatly appreciate it. This is going to be a very bumpy ride, but I promise that it will have a happy ending.
> 
> ~Dixie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING:  
> Brief child abuse

She sits in her new bedroom, blue eyes quietly staring off into the wide open space. In her mind, there were toys littered across the floor and tucked into every nook and cranny, bringing life to the cold, isolated room. She didn’t even have a toy box in the corner. Instead, her room was filled with furniture that she was too little to sit in and a piano she had yet to learn how to play.

She’d become too old to share a room with her sister, according to her father. Her mother insisted that Winter was becoming an adult, saying she’ll understand when she was her age. 

Their father ordered for all of her toys to be thrown away, his excuse being that she was ‘too old for toys’. He’d even thrown out her brand new dollhouse she hadn’t even played with yet…

The door creaks open and the child lifts her head, tiredly greeting her sister as the white-haired girl cautiously steps inside, holding a bag close to her. Weiss slides off the bed, curious to see what Winter had in the bag. “Is this what you wanted?” The older girl murmurs as she places the dollhouse down next to her little sister, whose eyes widen in awe, “I hid it before Father could see it…”

Weiss looks up at her, “Where are my dollies?” She asks, confused as to why they weren’t in the bag. Winter chuckles and removes the plastic, opening the dollhouse up to reveal three dolls neatly tucked inside. Weiss giggles, “That was cool!”

She reaches in to remove the dolls as Winter readjusts the house for her, “Wanna play?” She asks happily, holding up both dolls to her sister. Winter smiles and shakes her head, getting herself comfortable behind the younger girl as she places them in the house. “They’re a family!” Weiss informs her sister, whose brows scrunch up in bewilderment. 

“What are their names, then?” Winter asks.

Weiss giggles and holds up the two big dolls, “This is Violet and Scarlet!” She announces, “They’re in love and have been for years, Violet’s daddy doesn’t like it, but they don’t care. So they get married and have a baby!”  
  
Winter lets out a scoff of amusement, “Well, you don’t have any male dolls… Alright, what is the-”

“ _Winter_.” A masculine voice says from the doorway, sounding eerily calm.

Her sister turns to face the tall, lanky man standing formally at the door, she rises to her feet and Weiss quietly ducks behind her, holding two of the dolls tightly in her hands. Unbeknownst to her, the third one is kicked underneath her bed and out of sight. 

“She’s six years old, Father…” Winter says calmly as their father enters and comes to stand over them. Winter didn’t budge, meeting his cold gaze with an unreadable expression on her face. “You can at least allow her to have _one_ toy to play with...” Their father’s eyes flicker with rage and he glances down at Weiss, he lifts his hand and Winter’s entire body stiffens as she is harshly brushed aside. Weiss’ small frame trembles and she mimics her sister’s previous stance, trying to show confidence and not cower beneath his gaze.

She lets out a muffled yelp when the dolls were snatched out of her hands. Weiss reaches for her sister, who moves back protectively to her side. Without saying anything, the man makes to leave and Weiss jerks away from Winter, “H-hey! That’s mine! You can’t-” A hand sharply snatches her back as their father quickly turns around, his eyes ignited with fury. 

Time speeds up and Weiss flinches away as a loud smack reverberates through the room, she opens her eyes to find herself safely tucked behind her sister, who stands in front of her to shield her from their father, her cheek red and her body trembling. 

Their father’s voice is cold and harsh.

“Do _not_ disobey me again.” 

* * *

One doll and a house was all she had left. She’d found Violet underneath her bed and placed her inside the house, whispering that they were both alone now. Well, she at least has _something_ to play with. 

Weiss breathes a sigh and closes the dollhouse, sliding it under her bed as an attempt to hide it from her father in case he returns. As she hoists herself up onto the bed, the door opens and the blood drains from her face. Her heart begins pounding and she quickly situates herself, trying not to seem suspicious by snatching the blankets up over her head. 

Now enveloped in the darkness, footsteps quietly approach her bed and she tenses, not even daring to breathe.

Something light is placed at her side and the person walks away. Puzzled, she slides the blanket off her head and her eyes widen upon seeing her mother looking back at her with a tired smile, Weiss looks to see what was set on her bed and a smile tugs at her lips. Her other two dolls were returned completely unharmed. 

As her bedroom door closes, she scrambles off her bed to pull the dollhouse out from underneath her bed. Opening the doors and setting the other two inside next to Violet, she smiles.

“You’re not alone anymore.”


	2. Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RWBY are in their fourth year of Beacon, nothing bad ever happened.  
> Yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! I've been working on this story all year...  
> There will be a scene in which will be similar to my fanfic My Princess, this is because the entirety of My Princess was simply borrowed from this story.  
> White Instinct will be very different.
> 
> WARNING: Brief smut scene, feel free to skip over!

**Chapter One:** **  
****Location:** Vale, Beacon Academy  
Tuesday, May 5th **  
**_[Dust]_

They were in their last year of Beacon with three to four weeks left of the semester. 

However, the next two weeks of classes had been postponed in preparation for the upcoming Vytal Festival, giving the competing students time to prepare and finalize their battle techniques before the tournament. They’d also be participating in their second Vytal Festival this year, and this time it would be held in Vale! Glynda had even opened the stadium for any students interested in fighting inside rather than outside on the courts, as per Ozpin’s request.

The Vytal Festival meant that all students had to ensure that their weapons were in tip-top shape to avoid any mishaps or malfunctions that usually occurred on the training field.

Blake and Yang had left the dorm early that morning to get their weapons from the Smith in Vale. Despite Ruby's eagerness and willingness to service them herself, Blake had been looking to get some modifications done, and she didn't particularly want Ruby to mess with her weapon. Blake didn’t exactly trust many people with Gambol Shroud, the feeling even extending to her own teammates, much to Ruby’s disappointment. 

Yang decided to tag along with her partner for the fun, bringing her own gauntlets, Ember Celica, to see what could've been done if she had the Lien for it. Both Ruby and Blake knew that Yang was secretly hoping for a free modification, either by her luck or her 'Yang Charm'.

The right side of the homely dorm remained silent, the two single beds stacked neatly atop one another unusually quiet. The bottom bunk’s bed sheets had been made tidy, tucked carefully under the mattress and around, but the top bunk still looked like a bomb had hit it. Sheets lay strewn everywhere, a pillow half hanging off, a duvet sheet pulled from the end from the results of a caught ankle. 

The clock on the nightstand read 11:30AM and the bee duo had yet to return from their morning travel, thankfully.

Ruby and Weiss had their own plans on how to spend their free morning, having carefully planned the occasion for the past several days. Due to their extended free time, they seized the opportunity with open arms, and were using it to their full potential. It was a rare treat that the other two girls had the dorm to themselves for the better half of the entire morning. 

“Shh, shh, quiet now.” A sultry voice murmured quietly, just barely reaching her partner’s ears. “Don’t want the rest of the dorms to hear you, do you? It’s not exactly early anymore.” 

“Easy for you to say…” Weiss murmured under her breath, gasping as a nimble tongue slipped inside her again. She felt a pressure and Weiss twisted her body, relaxing herself the best she could and pressing her face into her pillow as an attempt to silence herself. A sharp jab caused her to tense up, “Damn it.” She whispered, gritting her teeth and refocusing herself on Ruby’s soothing touch. 

The tension eased away slowly and she felt something shift below her, followed by a soft clicking sound. “There.” Ruby reassured her softly, calloused fingers coming up to touch the woman delicately. “It’s done,” Weiss glanced down, eyes following as Ruby crawled up to hover over her. “I thought you said it wasn’t painful?” She asked, leaning over Weiss to set the vial on her nightstand. 

“Not painful,” Weiss corrected hoarsely, trying to relax herself, “just discomforting. Especially after what you did to me.”

“Sorry, babe.” Ruby giggled and leaned forward, dipping her head under Weiss’ chin and dragging her tongue over the older woman’s pulse. Weiss let out a soft hum, closing her eyes as Ruby’s teeth scraped over her thrumming pulse point ever so lightly. 

Before Weiss could become too used to it, Ruby lifted herself up, “How about Iris?” She questioned, raising her head to look at her girlfriend, who just grumbled in annoyance upon the lost contact.

The heiress let out a breath. “For what?” Weiss opened her eyes, blurry icy blue orbs struggling to focus on the brunette rested comfortably above her. 

“For when we have a baby.” The brunette answered, “Iris Schnee? Or Iris Rose?”

Weiss snorted, “You mean the baby that doesn’t exist yet.”

The reaper shushed her playfully, swatting at her girlfriend. “Quiet! She can hear you! You’ll hurt her feelings!”

Weiss laughed, batting Ruby’s hands away from her face. “ _ She _ hasn’t been conceived.”

“Yet.” Ruby answered almost knowingly.

“Ugh, you just have to have an answer for everything, don't you?” Weiss quipped light-heartedly grabbing Ruby by the cheek and squeezing lightly. Her partner whined in protest.

“Weiss~”

The named girl let go, letting out a gentle sigh as Ruby flopped to the side of her. Weiss felt silver eyes watching her carefully, turning to meet them with a frown.

“What?” She questioned, moving from her back so she could lay facing Ruby. The reaper smiled adoringly.

“I hope they'll look like you. Then I'll have two pretty girls to look at every day,” Ruby said, lighting a fire that rushed heat across Weiss' face. She scoffed, turning away and tugging the blankets up to smother Ruby in them. 

“We don’t know if it’ll even work,” Weiss muttered, sounding almost downhearted. “It didn’t last time…”

Ruby gave her a small smile once she was able to remove the blankets. “Well, it worked for that other couple… Who says it won’t work for us?” She giggled enthusiastically, reaching out to boop her girlfriend’s nose. “Don’t be so negative.” 

“Oh shut up you dolt-”

A loud, unceremonious bang shook the room suddenly, scaring both girls out of their skins in shock. Weiss scrambled to cover herself, eyes glaring at the rambunctious blonde that had just entered the dorm. Ruby practically threw herself to the floor in a last ditch effort to get out as soon as possible, her legs tangling in Weiss’ blankets half way and catching her, landing her on her shoulder on the ground with a whine.

“Guess who's back!” Yang boomed, swinging her arms into the air and clicking Ember Ceclia on her wrists as she walked in, “And guess who has new dust cham...bers?” Yang paused her excited entrance to take in the scene in front of her. Ruby groaned from the floor, standing up and rubbing the aching shoulder she fell on. Weiss remained paralyzed in horror and embarrassment, blankets clutched up to her mouth in an attempt to cover herself. 

Blake peeked out from behind the stocky girl in front, bow twitching as her feline ears beneath took in the sight as well. She sniffed the air a few times, before a knowing smirk grew on her face, her eyes filling with mischief. She looked to Weiss and winked, sending a new horror filled crawl down the Schnee's spine.

“Okay well I didn’t need to see  _ that _ .” The blonde said in slight annoyance, turning her eyes away to allow the girls to redress. Ruby disappeared in a flurry of rose petals and the bathroom door swung shut, Weiss carefully leaned over the other side of the bed to fetch her own clothes. 

“Yang… knocking is nice-” Ruby, suddenly redressed in the blink of an eye, whined as she exited the bathroom. She glanced up to look at the old gauntlets, and suddenly all rational thought was out the window, “Whoa! Are those the new chambers from DustX?!”

Yang didn't respond for a second, eyeing Weiss wearily as she fidgeted under her sheets. She was met with a cold death stare, forcing her to immediately lose eye contact or risk limb loss. Her head snapped back to Ruby with a look of panic on her face, before she grinned down at her younger sister. She flexed her arms to show off the newly modified weapons.

“You bet! Didn't even pay a penny for 'em!”

“I'm pretty sure that's called scamming, Yang,” Weiss joined from her bed, having finally gotten some form of decency beneath her sheets. The blonde shrugged.

“Eh, potato tomato,” she hummed. 

Weiss sighed. “That's not how the saying goes.” 

“Did you two get up to anything while we were gone?” Blake asked, placing the book she had brought for the flight back into the bookcase between the beds. As she did, her eyes found the vial Ruby had left there, a hint of surprise flashing across her face. Weiss turned to see Blake staring at the glass tube, horror crossing her face.

Weiss' stomach plummeted, swiftly reaching out and snatching the glass tube from the wood without a second thought, “W-we were just talking, that's all.”

“Really, underneath the sheets?” Weiss’ blood ran cold. “Alright. What were you talking about?” Blake prodded, a gleam in her eyes that Weiss did  _ not  _ like. There was no way Blake had  _ not  _ seen it.

“About going on another mission sometime soon,” Ruby quickly pitched in, holding Yang's wrist in her hand as she examined the Smith's work, “It's starting to get really boring now, y'know?”

“Hm…” Blake hummed, backing away from Weiss with a suspicious frown. Weiss mentally thanked Ruby, pressing her lips together as she crawled out of her bed, shoving the vial beneath her pillow temporarily.

“Team mission or ‘partner mission’?” Blake asked with an impish smirk on her face, sending yet another wave of humiliation through Weiss. 

Ruby didn’t seem fazed as the implication of Blake’s question went over her head. “Team mission,” she said as Yang retracted her arm back to her side, placing it on her hip, “if we can, that is. They’ve been very careful about what teams they send out with the Vytal Festival coming up.”

The distraction allowed Weiss a few more minutes to adjust her appearance, attempting to twist her ponytail back into its asymmetrical position. She could feel Blake’s eyes on her, watching her every move with a knowing look.

“Ah,” Yang said as she flopped down on her partner’s bed, crossing her legs comfortably and watching the red and white duo, “so that’s where JNPR went. Was wonderin’ why it was so quiet next door.”

“Well it certainly wasn’t quiet in here.” Ruby remarked almost smugly, Weiss scowled at the back of her head with an expression of pure betrayal. 

Yang laughed, “Well, yeah, with the two of you constantly going at it, of course not!” 

The blood drained from Weiss’ face. 

“G-going at it?” Ruby stuttered, wearing an expression of horror. 

“Wh- What's that supposed to mean?” Weiss barely managed to snark back, discreetly shoving the vial even further beneath the pillows. She could feel Blake's golden gaze watching her with mild interest, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Blake's ears twitch almost knowingly. 

“With how much you two bicker, I’d be amazed if anybody got any sleep around here.” Yang guffawed, unknowingly easing Weiss' already jittery nerves. “Seriously! Do you two have to fight at two in the morning? Couldn’t it have waited?” Without giving them a chance to respond, Yang stood up and stretched her arms above her head with a strained grunt. “Anyway, Imma head on and get a shower.”

Blake reached out and grabbed her partner’s wrist, gently hauling her back down to the bed. “We can’t.” She reminded her, “They’re remodeling the shower rooms for the Vytal Festival.”

“Wha- they’re really doing that?” Yang exclaimed in disbelief, “I thought it was just a rumor!”

“With how many students will be attending and participating in the tournaments, the board decided that they would need a little more space and somewhere to store their weapons.” Weiss explained lightly, “The shower rooms will be under construction for the next few days.”

Yang let out another loud groan of disdain. “You know,” Ruby muttered from beside Weiss, attention fixed solely on the supposedly dying figure of her sister, “you could just use the dorm’s bathroom. That’s what it’s there for anyway.”

“Can’t.” Yang responded quietly as if all the life had drained out of her, “The water is only mildly warm, it’s not enough.” Weiss rolled her eyes as Yang pushed herself back up, “Well, looks like I’ll be going without a shower until the Festival!”

Weiss’ nose scrunched up in disgust, “Absolutely not. No teammate of mine is going without a shower for longer than a day if we can help it.”

Blake hummed in thought, “Well, I suppose we could-”

A collateral explosion shook the room again and Weiss swore that her soul had left her body, if the aggravated ringing in her ears was any indication. “We’re back!” Nora announced, entering the dorm as sound slowly returned to Weiss. Jaune stood frozen at the entrance with a horrified expression and his hand lifted, prepared to knock.

“Knocking is a thing.” Ruby mumbled again as Nora strutted into the room and took a seat between her and Weiss. Pyrrha whispered an apology as the rest of their friends walked in. Delicately, Weiss reached under the pillows to remove the vial and navigate it to her pocket; with that done she stood and approached the door. 

A pair of golden eyes watched her.

“Ha! Who knocks anymore?” Nora waved her hand dismissively while Weiss lifted the wooden door up. “Kicking doors down is much better! It’s louder, more explosive, and nobody dies! It’s fiiine!”

_ ‘My soul did.’  _ Weiss wanted to say, adjusting the surprisingly unfazed door to set it back on the damaged hinges. She could wield it back together later,  _ again _ . “Twenty years old and they still act like children…” 

“See?!” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw life return to Yang as the blonde buffoon leapt to her feet with a grin on her face. “Someone who understands my way of thinking!”

Ruby’s face turned into one of confusion, “But. . . The door. You know if it can’t be fixed, we have to pay for it, right?”

Nora shrugged, “A small price to pay for fun.”

“I’m pretty sure the cost of repairing damaged school property is out of  _ both  _ of your price ranges.” Weiss muttered in irritation, cautiously checking to see if the glass object still remained in her pocket. “Okay,” she said as she turned to face the group, brows narrowing as she glanced between Nora and Yang, “before I fix it, is anybody going to kick the door down again?”

“Maybe.” Yang replied with a small shrug of her shoulders.

“Yes.” Nora said shamelessly.

With a roll of her eyes, Weiss started back to her bed and took her seat beside Ruby, who offered her a small apologetic smile. “Well,” the woman sighed, “I guess it can’t be helped.”

Jaune opened his mouth to say something in protest, only to stop short as he got wind of the smell that was lingering in the air. He sniffed a few times, before his face shifted into one of confusion, “Does. . . it smell weird to anyone in here?”

“Bet you’re smelling yourself there _Vomit Boy_ ,” Yang quickly said back, however Jaune shook his head.  
  
“No- this isn’t me. It’s. . .” he stopped to take another breath, unaware of the mortified faces of Weiss and Ruby nearby, “Musky. . .”

Ruby’s eyes met with Weiss’ icy pair, flitting back and forth between her and the rest of the group. They hadn’t had a chance to shower and clean up the room... “I don’t smell anything!” Ruby said rapidly as an attempt to throw them off, she stood to her feet and hurriedly approached her desk to grab her weapon. “So um, how about we head to the training room?”

“Yeah!” Nora roared, rocketing to her feet from beside Weiss. The heiress held the bed as it shook with the might of the girl, eyes wide. She didn’t need to fix a bed too.

“Let’s get going then,” Pyrrha said from the door, already carefully opening the half broken door, “We need to find Glynda to let her know we’ll be there for the afternoon.”

“Right!” Yang said, climbing to her feet to join her sister and JNPR.

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief, “I’ll catch up with you.” She informed them, wanting to properly fix her appearance and hide the vial before she left. Ruby shut the door behind them and Weiss stood to her feet, approaching her dresser and reaching into her pocket to remove the vial.

Her heart stopped.

_ The vial wasn’t there.  _

Thinking that she must’ve dropped it somehow, the heiress spun around and icy eyes frantically scanned the floor for the glass item. She didn’t see it anywhere, she’d even checked under the beds to see if it’d rolled underneath.  _ ‘No, no, where is it? It has to be here.’  _

With her luck, one of her friends had spotted it and had picked it up. 

“Looking for this?”

Weiss’ head snapped up to see Blake sitting on her bed, rotating the glass tube in her hand as she examined it. “Hm,” the faunus contemplated, lifting it to her nose. Weiss’ blood ran cold. “That’s some strange dust, don’t you think?” Blake asked, her expression remaining neutral when she turned to the fencer. 

_ ‘That’s not dust.’  _ The look in the woman’s eyes said that she already knew.

“Has a rose-scented smell to it.” Weiss flinched away in horror, her thoughts raced as she searched for something, anything, to throw Blake off her trail. The woman smirked at her, “Any idea what it is?”

Weiss’ mind blanked and she lunged for the item, “Give me that!” Just as her hand made contact with the raven-haired faunus, she vanished into a puff of smoke as though she’d never been there at all. “Blake!” The named girl spawned behind her with the vial still in hand, “It’s just some dust my father sent for me to-”

Blake cut her off, “Oh, you and I both know that this isn’t battle dust.” She let out a hum of thought. “The dust has Ruby’s scent,” mischievous golden eyes met Weiss’ blue pair, “interesting… Here.” She said as she tossed the vial back.

“We weren’t doing anything!” Weiss tried to protest.

“I never said you were.” Blake pointed towards the worn black ribbon tied securely on her head, the piece of fabric twitching as her feline ears moved about. A sly grin formed on her lips, “Yang and I were outside for a while before we came in. I heard everything.”

Weiss pales as Blake brushes past her, Blake’s chuckles churning her stomach like an ocean as they leave the foul smelling dorm behind.

By the time the monochrome duo got down to the arena, the rest of RWBY and JNPR had set up. The indoor arena had been cleared of the stamina obstacles, and instead replaced with crates to create a cheap sense of cover. The rest of the classroom was empty, a dark shadow cast over the empty seats where students usually sat.  
  
Yang and Ruby were leaning against the side of the arena when Weiss and Blake finally arrived, talking amongst themselves. Weiss watched as Yang nudged Ruby playfully in the ribs when her girlfriend’s face turned beet red, followed by an embarrassed “YANG” that Weiss could hear from the door. 

She smiled gently at the sight, thoughts of her own sister crawling to the front of her mind. Weiss had invited her to come see them fight in the Vytal Festival, but Winter has not responded yet, but that was no concern. Winter often went a bulk of time before contacting her younger sister, which was understandable. She  _ did  _ work in the military after all.

“There they are,” Yang called from her spot, motioning all eyes to look over at Blake and Weiss as they joined the sparring session. Ruby tried to catch Weiss’ eyes, curious and concerned at why Blake had stayed behind, out of all people. However, Weiss was more occupied with fixing her hair tie to be tighter, not wanting to make eye contact with her girlfriend, before looking over to the arena they had cleared. 

“Everything okay?” Ruby asked, straightening herself up as the latter half of her team approached. She held Crescent Rose in her hand, fully extended and polished to perfection. Weiss finally looked up at Ruby as she registered the question, a carefully hidden blush appearing along the ridge of her cheeks.

“Everything is fine,” she hummed, gesturing over to Blake with a hand and a very sharp look in her eyes, “Blake just wanted to ask me something.”

Blake was muttering something into Yang’s ear when she saw Weiss gesture at her. She smirked to Yang, who cackled under her breath. Playful golden eyes stared back at Weiss, the smirk lingering, “Yeah. Nothing important.”

Ruby blinked, lost. Weiss sighed heavily, turning away as a heat crawled up her neck, feeling Ruby staring at her in utter confusion. She changed her attention back to JNPR’s warmup, which looked like it was coming to a close. Pyrrha was pulling Jaune up from the dust, a compassionate smile on her face as the raggy blonde dusted the dirt off his butt.

“Look, Jaune  _ fell  _ for Pyrrha,” Yang said beneath her breath, earning a shared groan from her friends as the other team walked over to them.

“Where were you two?” Nora asked as she got closer, Magnhild glistening over her shoulder. Ren folded Stormflower down, placing them into their holsters as he took his break, his hair pinned back out of his face. Pyrrha and Jaune joined behind them.

“I wanted Weiss for a second,” Blake explained, folding her arms to lean against the arena wall. The Schnee could see Jaune’s attention shift to her, enough for her to move closer to Ruby, who offered her a small, reassuring smile and a discreet, possessive glare in her friend’s direction. 

Either this kid couldn’t take a hint, or he was extremely dense. Chances are it was both.

“Not to worry, we’ve still got plenty of time left to practice,” Pyrrha said, placing Milo onto her back. 

Weiss groaned, stretching her hands out in front of her to relax her shoulders before she went into training, “I suppose I wouldn’t mind sparring-”

“I’ll spar with you!” Jaune suddenly exploded. Everyone turned to look at the scraggy blonde in shock, including Weiss, who had frozen up more in horror than anything else. Behind her, Ruby’s eyes were glancing from Weiss to Jaune. 

“Pardon me?” Weiss murmured.

“I-I mean…” Jaune quickly recoiled, his eyes flickering back to Ruby before reaching up to scratch the back of his head, eyes shifting to the ground. He cleared his throat. “I-if you want to.”

Weiss was stuck for words, looking between the stunned faces of everyone around her to make sure she had heard him right, and that this wasn’t some kind of revolting joke. Yang’s dropped jaw slowly turned into an open mouthed smirk, a laugh escaping her.

“Oh, I have  _ got  _ to record this,” she mused, reaching into her pocket to pull out her scroll in preparation. Nora made a strangled noise of glee, shooting over to grab her own scroll from the ground nearby.

Weiss began to pace across the battlefield, weighing Myrtenaster in her hands as she made her way to a starting position. Just as she passed Ruby, she felt a hand grasp her wrist. She glanced back at Ruby in slight surprise, instantly reading the concern and anxiety in her eyes that read ‘Are-you-sure?’. 

Weiss sighed lightly, smiling briefly before starting back to the arena. Jaune meekly followed, looking back at the group of gathered girls and Ren, watching with a range of emotions. Nora and Yang were already recording, obviously shown by the blinking red lights on their scrolls in their hands.   
  
Weiss took a breath, turning and facing Jaune 30 paces away, Myrtenaster lifted to line between her eyes as she focused herself. She swung the blade through the air with a whistle, happy with its sharpness, “Classroom rules. The opponent is out when he or she is touched, or their aura broken. Ready?”

Jaune shifted nervously, looking down at his feet as he nervously shuffled into position. He made a final few checks on his shield, before lifting his Sword into the air, “Ready.”

Pyrrha hid her eyes behind one of her hands, not willing to watch what was about to happen. Blake stood beside her, watching with tuned attention.

“He’s going to die,” she commented, a playful purr coming from the back of her throat. Pyrrha nodded sadly in agreement, looking from beneath her red locks of hair.

“Sorry Jaune-”

“Go!” Nora bellowed, causing Weiss to dart off a glyph with dangerous speed.

Jaune yelped in surprise, bringing up his shield to block himself from the flying spear heading towards him. Weiss narrowed her eyes, placing a glyph onto the front of the white steel. Jaune looked over the edge in surprise, finding the newly placed rune glowing on the steel. He ducked his head beneath the cover, tucked neatly into a ball beneath it.

The way the boy was cowering behind his shield gave Weiss the perfect angle to bounce from as she jumped, the sudden pressure knocking off Jaune’s face and sending him to the ground as the heiress bounded over him gracefully. The blonde fell onto his back with an “Oof!” as Weiss landed behind him, dust kicking up beneath her feet. She walked up to him as he was recovering from the dazed hit, whipping Myrtenaster down and gently tapping his shoulder with the tip effortlessly. 

“I win,” she hummed, before whizzing the rapier in her hand through the air and back to her holster, “As predicted.”

“Aw man,” Jaune sighed against the ground, letting his arms fall to either side of him. 

Pyrrha finally looked up behind her hand once Ren told her it was safe, wincing at the state of her partner on the ground. She shrugged weakly. “At least you tried, Jaune.”

“Good job, Weiss!” Ruby cheered from the sideline as Weiss came closer, hands placed on her hips as she walked. The heiress flicked some dirt off her pristine white coat, coming to a rest back beside the rest of her team. She passed Ruby an ‘I-told-you-I’d-be-fine’ look, not noticing the dip in the earth, a battle wound from an old training session that had yet to be filled. Weiss’ foot caught on the divet, her eyes widening in surprise as she fell forward. She quickly summoned a white glyph, catching herself from a mouthful of dust and an utterly humiliating fall. 

Yang’s loud laugh and Ruby’s snickers didn’t hesitate to rouse an embarrassed glow from her, though.

“That is definitely being saved to the blackmail folder,” Nora snickered. “Alright! Who’s next?”

“Oh, Oh! Me next, me next!” Ruby begged, her eyes sparkling like a pup, in fact, Weiss could almost see a mirage of ears and a tail wagging excitedly behind her. She eagerly folded out Crescent Rose, the oiled gears shifting smoothly under her grip, “Who wants to fight me?”

“What about Pyrrha?” Nora suggested, pulling the interest of the redheaded warrior from Jaune, who was dusting dirt off him in clouds. Ruby’s eyes sparkled even more, if that was at all possible, her stares immediately locked on the warrior.

Pyrrha rubbed the back of her neck, “I don’t mind?”

Ruby disappeared from Weiss’ side in a heartbeat, replaced by rose petals as she reappeared where Weiss had fought Jaune merely seconds earlier. Yang folded her arms, a smile still lingering on her face, “I think that’s a yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to draw conclusions!


	3. One of a Kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Date time! Date time! Date time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been working on this story all year, so I'd really appreciate some feedback! I'll be answering comments!

**Location:** Vale, Townsquare   
_ [One of a Kind] _

Approximately three hours later, the training session had disbanded; Pyrrha and Ruby’s fight was an exciting one, the girls were evenly matched, exchanging blows in bright sparks as they danced around the battlefield. 

Sometime during the fight, Weiss retreated to the back of the training room where Jaune had followed her. After blocking a hit from Pyrrha, Ruby noticed her blonde friend anxiously flirting with her clearly uncomfortable girlfriend. Around that time, a mysterious bullet flew through the air and struck the wall two feet above Jaune’s head, startling him enough to move.  
  
It didn’t go unnoticed by her sparring partner, who quickly changed positions so that Ruby had her back towards the duo, unfortunately.

They ultimately tied in the end, both calling forfeit once they’d reached their own satisfaction. Pyrrha returned to her own partner to examine him, apologizing for the ‘misfired bullet’. Ruby quietly came to her girlfriend’s side, her eyes remaining locked on her blonde friend and half-hearing the brief lecture she was given. 

Four practices later, the two teams split for the day.

JNPR headed on back to the dorm rooms to study, much to Jaune and Nora’s displeasure. Weiss suggested returning to their own dorm to rest, her body tense and exhausted from the morning’s activities and the sparring practice, but she’d been outvoted by her teammates and reluctantly joined them on their unnecessary trip into town. 

Yang’s first stop was dragging Ruby to the weapon shop she’d managed to scam earlier that day, granting Weiss the opportunity to watch her girlfriend geek over new and improved weapons, and some sort of dust-infused bullet launcher she’d wanted to purchase for Crescent Rose. After a few quick moments of mulling it over, she’d instead settled on a pack of high-impact bullets, wanting to test out how well they’d fire with her sniper.

That’s when Weiss stepped in and offered to pay for Ruby’s purchase, despite Ruby insisting that she would pay with her own allowance. Yang hadn’t missed the chance to poke some fun at the two of them, referring to the ammo as a post-wedding gift.

Their next location was Tucson's Book Store so that Blake could pick up the book she’d ordered; Lace Mystery. 

She’d been rather secretive and flustered regarding the plot of the book when questioned, which told more than Weiss wanted to know. Yang waited outside of the store, having browsed enough for her liking and grown bored. Ruby, on the other hand, busied herself with the recently released volume of her favorite series, and a couple of romance novels that caught her eye. 

Ruby’s discreet peek into the children’s section didn’t go unnoticed by Weiss. She hadn’t missed the giddy, hopeful look in the brunette’s eyes, either. 

When they left the store, Weiss noticed that her girlfriend had gotten lost deep in thought, judging by the glaze over her silver eyes. Her brows creased in worry before she’d snapped herself back to her senses, suddenly piquing up between Blake and Yang’s conversation, informing them that she and Weiss would be heading off alone to provide the Bumbleby duo with some alone time.

Without waiting for a response, Weiss found herself being hauled away from the rest of the team and towards a vaguely familiar jewelry store, where she was asked to wait outside while Ruby went in. A few minutes later, Ruby exits the door with a small plastic bag, wearing a nervous smile on her face.

“I kind of had it personalized last week,” she confesses quietly, “I asked them to hold it until today, so, um,” she pulls a long box from the small bag she carried, “here.”

Weiss cautiously takes the box and slowly opens it. Before she can even see inside, the sun glares off the piece and blinds her, but once her eyes adjust and she sees the chain-link bracelet, warmth flutters through her heart as she reads the message engraved on the heart-shaped pendant: Her and Ruby’s initials with a heart in between. 

_ ‘For me…?’ _

She shakes her head, clearing her thoughts. “Ruby, what is this?” Weiss askes, scowling to conceal her childish glee. “I don’t even wear bracelets?”

Disappointment flickers through Ruby’s eyes, Weiss’ heart tightens with guilt. “I… I just thought that since you bought me something, I could do the same for you…” She reaches for the item, “You don’t like it… I-I can take it back?”

Weiss steps away from her instantly, holding the bracelet close. Ruby frowns in confusion. “No,” Weiss says in a firm tone of voice, “it’s mine, don’t touch it.” Her heart flutters as glee flashes through those captivating silver eyes and Weiss averts her gaze, willing away the heat stubbornly spreading across her face. “Th-thank you, Ruby.”

Ruby giggles and takes a short step closer to the blushing heiress, “Is that a blush I see?” She coos playfully, her demeanor changing into one of mischief, sending a quiver up Weiss’ spine as her voice slowly became sultry. “Did I make the oh-so stoic Weiss Schnee  _ blush _ ?” 

“No!” Weiss denies, clutching her gift tight with one hand and spinning around on her heel to walk away. Now that she isn’t facing Ruby, she allows a tiny smile to creep to her lips and she glances down to the bracelet. She’d grown up receiving/and or purchasing expensive, sometimes rare items from all over Remnant, granted she’d never really had a use for them… 

And despite it being a custom creation, the bracelet was still a standard piece of middle class jewelry. So why did such a small, flimsy bracelet make her feel so happy?

A light laugh comes from behind her and she hears the tapping of feet approaching, followed by a pair of arms gently embracing her from behind. “I can see you smiling~!” Ruby says in a cheerful voice into Weiss’ ear, causing the girl’s face to redden. Weiss yelps in protest and pries at her girlfriend’s arms as an attempt to remove them, mumbling something under her breath when Ruby’s hold is locked and tightened, but loose enough that Weiss remains comfortable. 

“Ruby!” Weiss hisses at the brunette, “We’re in public-eek!” She’s cut off by a soft, feathery kiss against the back of her neck. “Ruby.” She repeats, making no move to try and escape the reaper’s embrace. She’ll never admit it, but having Ruby’s arms around her makes her feel safe. “Let go of me.” Weiss murmurs.

Ruby scoffs in mock offense. “Fine, but only because you asked nicely.” She withdraws her arms from Weiss’ waist after placing another soft kiss below her girlfriend’s ear. 

Weiss rolls her eyes and stepped out of Ruby’s embrace, Ruby’s hand gently sliding across her stomach almost wistfully. Weiss spares her a glance over her shoulder, light blue eyes meeting with adoring silver. Ignoring the pang of loneliness that grips her heart upon the loss of contact, Weiss turns away and walks down the street to head back towards the heart of the town. “Come on, we need to find Blake and Yang.” 

“I would rather not.” Ruby replies quickly and uncomfortably, jogging to Weiss’ side. “I still can’t get that image from last week out of my mind.”

Weiss allows a small, coy smirk to form on her lips. “Ah,” she says teasingly, “are you referring to the closet incident or the-”

Ruby cuts her off immediately with a strangled, disapproving noise of disgust. “Please don’t remind me.”

The older woman chuckles quietly. “Or do you mean the time we walked in on-” 

Ruby silences her with a series of repulsed whines and grunts, swatting at Weiss’ arm childishly while they walk. “Weiiisss! That’s my  _ sister _ !” Weiss growls, annoyance pooling in the pit of her stomach at her partner’s behavior.

She recoils back, stops walking and grabs her girlfriend’s wrists, Ruby pauses and stares back at her. She’ll be able to break free without difficulty if she wants to, but she stays still. “Ruby, you are eighteen-years old. Act like it.” Weiss says firmly with irritation etched on her features. “You’re not a fifteen-year old child anymore.”

Ruby raises a brow back at her, unfazed by Weiss’ sudden change in demeanor. “I’ve never been eighteen before, I don’t know how to act my age.”

The heiress groans and releases the reaper’s wrists and turns again, letting out a breath as an attempt to relax her nerves. She started down the street again, Ruby following closely behind her. “I would teach you, but it would take years for  _ you  _ to even grasp the simple  _ idea  _ of proper etiquette.” As soon as the words leave her mouth, she is struck by an arrow of guilt and she keeps her eyes downcast, not wanting to see Ruby’s reaction.

“Maybe,” Ruby murmurs, her voice calm and cool, “but if I learned how to act like that, if I changed, would you even love me anymore?” She asks, approaching Weiss slowly. Weiss stops and examines their surroundings, grateful that there weren’t any prying, lurking eyes. The woman faces Ruby’s questioning silver eyes. “If you really want me to,” Ruby whispers leaning in subconsciously to look Weiss in the eyes. “I guess I could work on my behavior.”

Weiss moves her hand up and places a finger on Ruby’s forehead, gently pushing her away and holding her at bay. She doesn’t budge. “Dunce…” She mutters under her breath, “I said act your age, not like an obnoxious, rich snob.”

Ruby smirks at that. “Oh so…” She gestures towards her playfully. “You.”

Weiss’ response is a blank, expressionless stare. The air around them grows cold and quiet; she stays silent and unreadable as Ruby starts to fidget and a tiny, nervous smile crept to the brunette’s face. She begins rambling; “I mean, uh, like, uh… Like Winter! Like Winter, yeah, that’s what I meant.” Weiss cocks a brow and Ruby’s expression morphs into one of panic. “Not that she’s an obnoxious snob!” She shakes her head, “No! Not at all! She’s just, uh, cold, and distant? Aloof?” Realization dawns in her eyes. “Unapproachable! Yeah! Wait,” she pauses, biting her lip, “that’s not any better, is it?”

Weiss advances before Ruby can spout out more nervous gibberish, she comes close to her and reaches to grab the front of her girlfriend’s collar, pulling the taller girl down and silencing her with a passionate kiss that sends sparks fluttering through her heart. She feels Ruby’s body go rigid for a brief moment before the kiss is momentarily returned. Weiss parts before Ruby could get any ideas.

Weiss can’t help but to smirk at her achievement; she leans in and gives the brunette another sweet kiss. “An obnoxious snob wouldn’t have fallen in love with a dolt like you.” She chuckles, watching as shock crosses Ruby’s face. 

She makes to leave, but before she can step away, an arm shoots out and encircles her abdomen, gently tugging her closer. “Ruby!” She scolds again, becoming slightly annoyed with her girlfriend’s actions. A single slender finger taps her chin up and she glances towards Ruby, her heart performing a backwards flip upon seeing the mischievous look in her eyes.

“You’ve fallen in love with me?” Ruby questions playfully, but affectionately. “Aww!” She smirks. “You must be a ‘dolt’ yourself, then! There’s no way a smart, intelligent heiress would fall for an idiot, unless she was secretly one herself, eh?”

Weiss feels like steam is coming out of her ears, humiliation rises up inside and she jerks her arms back, she bashes at Ruby’s chest as hard as she can. “Are you insulting me?! I never said that!” She shouts. “Let go of me, you brute!”

Ruby just giggles and Weiss stiffens when she feels gentle fingers combing through her hair. She sighs softly as her body slowly relaxes and loosely wraps her arms around Ruby, resting her forehead against her shoulder comfortably. She closes her eyes, allowing her aggravation to melt away. “There, there…” Her girlfriend coos, “You’re okay… Calm down, Princess.”

She tenses again, opening her eyes again and repeating the nickname in her head. Deciding she doesn’t like it, she grunts and pushes herself away from Ruby, “I am calm.” She says firmly as she straightens her posture to look Ruby in the eyes. “And don’t call me that!”

“Sure.” The reaper grins, strolling passed her and lifting a hand to pat Weiss’ head playfully. The gesture sends another wave of embarrassment through her, she lets out an irate growl. “C’mon, let’s get something to eat.” 

Weiss releases a defeated huff and peers over her shoulder to watch her girlfriend leave, her heart flutters and a small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. 

She turns to follow her.

* * *

“Out of all the places in Vale…” Weiss murmurs, staring up at the old, rundown building and looking back at Ruby judgmentally before a blank look crosses her features. She gestures to the shack, one brow raised. “You chose  _ this _ .”

“Hey,” Ruby mutters in response, “it’s good! Dad, Yang, and I eat here on summer vacation!” She pushes the door open and walks inside, Weiss following closely behind her. “It’s also where I told Dad about us!” Ruby says, looking over her shoulder with a warm smile.

Weiss rolls her eyes, a tiny smile forming on her lips. “It’s nice to know that you love me so much that you told your father we’re dating  _ in a leaky, moldy restaurant _ .”

Ruby frowns at her, “Weiss,” she pouted, “it’s not leaky and the mold-smell is just…” She pauses, “Actually, I can’t explain that. I don’t smell it.” 

Without another word, she hops over to the counter where a young man looked up, he smiles at her and his eyes flicker back at Weiss. “Two?” He asks and Ruby nods, Weiss comes to her side as the waiter sweeps up two menus into his hands and leads them away. “Alright, right this way!” 

The heiress breathes a heavy sigh for the hundredth time that day. “You’re lucky that I love you…” At that, Ruby beams and her silver eyes light up like fireworks. Weiss feels her heart flutter.  _ ‘Cute!’  _ Weiss’ expression instantly becomes guarded to shield her internal squealing; she couldn’t show her soft side, not in public. “Though why I love you remains a mystery to me…” 

Weiss’ eyes wanders towards Ruby’s hand and her fingers twitches, she hesitantly scans her surroundings and quickly strolls up next to Ruby. Silver eyes glimpse back at her briefly and Weiss moves her hand, softly locking her fingers with Ruby’s, the brunette offers her a tiny smile and she curls her fingers around Weiss’, their palms forming an upside down heart.

Her girlfriend chuckles and begins slowly swinging their hands, her gaze becomes soft and she looks up to her longingly. “It’s almost like we’re swinging a child.”

Weiss scoffs, “And just like that, you’ve ruined the moment.” 

Ruby rolls her eyes as they are led to their table, she withdraws her hand from Weiss’ and playfully gestures for her to sit down first. “After you, Your Highness.” She gives a mock bow as Weiss sits down. The heiress waves her hand for Ruby to join her and the brunette slides in across from her.

After a few minutes of quiet conversing, a young man walks up to them. “Good evening, ladies!” He greets, taking a quick look at Ruby. “My name is Azuron, and I’m your waiter today! So what would you like to drink?” He fixes his attention on Ruby, never sparing Weiss a single look. “We have the Strawberry Lime and Sunset Chamallite on the special today.”

Weiss’ brow twitches at the mention of the alcoholic beverages and she raises her eyes to look at Ruby, huffing a deep sigh when Ruby’s face lights up. “What’s a Sunset Chamallite?” She knows her girlfriend won’t go overboard, she just needed to trust her.

Azuron smiles and Weiss feels a spark of jealousy twinge at her chest. He is too nice. Azuron waves his hand, “Oh it’s like a Tequila Sunrise,” he explains, his voice just a bit too peppy, “just a lil’ stronger. I think you’d like it if you enjoy the Tequila Sunrise!”

The legal drinking age here in Vale was approximately eighteen, much to Weiss’ displeasure. 

Ruby claps her menu shut and withdraws her ID from her pocket, flashing it at the waiter to verify that she was of age. “I’ll take a Sunset Chamallite, a Hazelnut and Milk fruitcake, and Mistralian-Style Beans and Chicken.”

“Well you certainly have an appetite!” The man chuckled, “Nice choice of dessert!” He says happily, almost flirtatiously, “My grandfather actually made the Hazelnut and Milk fruitcake, and sold the recipe to this restaurant!”

Ruby grins in response. “Really? That’s amazing!”

A cold feeling settles inside of Weiss’ chest, she casts an angry glower at Azuron as he turns to her with a bright grin on his face. The air becomes ten degrees colder when their eyes meet, she can clearly see the challenge in his hazel orbs. “What would you like, miss?” The waiter asks nicely, Weiss isn’t blind to the change in his voice.

_ ‘I’d like for you to kindly leave and never come back.’  _ Weiss sits up, closing her menu. “Two waters,” one for Ruby, “and a simple salad.”

Azuron hums, “Pickled chicken salad, or would you like a-”

Weiss cuts him off. “ _ Just _ a salad.”

The waiter shrugs and jots their orders down before turning back to Ruby as if Weiss had never been there in the first place. “So,” he starts with a revolting nice grin, “why are you trying the Sunset Chamallite? Don’t you think that it might be a little too strong for your first time drinking?”

Ruby shakes her head, “I’ve already had a Tequila Sunrise twice since I’ve been here,” since she’s been here with Yang, “so I think I’m ready for something a little stronger.” She grins challengingly, “I can handle it!”

Azuron laughs and Weiss grits her teeth together, “I’m sure you can.” He turns away, “I’ll deliver your orders now, let me know if you need anything else.” The subtle wink he shoots towards Ruby doesn’t go unnoticed.

As he walks away, Ruby let out a heavy sigh, her shoulders slacking. “Jeez, I thought he’d never leave…” 

“He’ll be back.” Weiss mutters as she watches the man walk away towards the back, he takes a glance back towards them and their eyes meet for a brief moment before he disappears into the back room. “He forgot to take up the menus  _ on purpose _ .” She refocuses her attention on her girlfriend as annoyance brewers inside of her chest, bubbling to the surface when Ruby innocently looks at her. “Why did you do that?” 

Ruby frowns, “What do you mean?”

Weiss’ hands clutch the edge of the table, “Why did you  _ let  _ him  _ flirt  _ with you?!”

The brunette raises a brow and sits back, “Weiss,” she says calmly, “I was being nice… There’s a difference between flirting and being nice.  _ You’re  _ being possessive.”

“I’m not possessive,” Weiss objects immediately, “but now he thinks you’re into him because you were being nice.” She groans and rubs her forehead, breathing slowly as an attempt to relax her nerves. What was she doing? She knows Ruby would never cheat on her. 

Maybe she was being possessive. She needs to calm down… 

“I-I’m sorry…” She apologizes quietly, “I didn’t mean to get like that… I just,” she pauses for a moment, “I don’t want him to think you’re into him because you’re being nice...” 

Ruby smiles and she reaches over to place her hand on Weiss’. “You’re forgiven.” Her thumb runs over Weiss’ knuckles soothingly, “There’s no need to be jealous, Princess, I’m not gonna leave you. I love you too much. I'll take care of it when he comes back.”

Weiss cracks a thankful smile at her.

Two transparent glasses filled with their ordered beverages are placed in front of them and Ruby’s attention moves upwards, Weiss frowns when Azuron meets her girlfriend’s eyes. “Here’s your drinks,” he says, ignoring Weiss’ presence, “I paid for the cost of yours,” he sends a wink towards Ruby, “no need to thank me.”

Rage bubbles up inside of Weiss, she clenches her fists and opens her mouth to retort something; Ruby heolds her hand up and she swallows her words, sitting back and letting the silver-eyed girl handle it. “Actually, I’d prefer it if you hadn’t,” Ruby smiles, the false remorse in her eyes was nearly believable. Azuron frowns in perplexity, “I’m here on a date with my girlfriend, and it’d be nice if you would leave us alone.”

“Girlfriend?” His dark, hazel gaze glanced to Weiss and his expression became stoic. She matched his glare with the same level of intensity, waiting for one of his snarky, offhand comments. “She deserves a man, you know,” he said, his voice devoid of emotion, but challenging, “someone who can really protect her and take care of her. Not some fragile princess.” 

Confident in herself, Weiss offered him a sweet smile and watched as bewilderment flickered across his narrow features. “Is that so? Well, between the three of us, I do not see this ‘Man’ you speak of.” Ruby grinned when she said this, “I only see a good-for-nothing  _ boy _ who is too dense to realize when he’s out of his league.”

“Are you insulting me?” Azuron asks, thoroughly baffled. “How dare you! I am-”

“Azuron! Get back to work!” A woman hollers from the back room, causing the man’s mouth to clamp shut and irritation to flood his eyes. He shakes his head and his expression goes blank before turning away and returning to the backroom.

Weiss watches as his back slowly departs from them, her hands clutching the edge of the table and her breathing careful, quiet. She lets her guard down and sighed, leaning against the seat behind her and looking back at her girlfriend. “What was that? I could’ve come up with a better insult than that.” She frowns, her brows creasing. “I could’ve put him in his place without insulting-”

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Ruby slide her glass to the side and inclines forward. She had just a moment to register that the younger woman had leaned over the table, one hand on the flat surface to stabilize her. Weiss’ chin is gingerly tilted up by two soft fingers and their lips met for a tender kiss. 

The world around them falls into a deafening silence.  
She can’t hear anything aside from her own quickened heartbeat.  
Any rage she’d felt subsided, almost as though it’d never existed at all.  


A warm, tingly feeling erupts through her body as Ruby carefully deepens the kiss, her fingers tracing along Weiss’ jawline, leaving warm trails of pleasure in their wake.   
  


She snaps out of her daze when Ruby breaks the kiss, whispering a sweet ‘I love you’ against her lips, sending euphoric waves washing through Weiss’ being. The heiress opens her eyes as Ruby sits back, a knowing grin on her face and her silver eyes dancing with amusement. “Just one kiss causes you to thaw, how sweet.” She giggles as Weiss returns to her senses. “You still get that dazed look in your eyes.”

“No I don’t,” Weiss insists immediately, ignoring the growing blush on her face, “you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Ruby giggles, “And every time I point it out, you deny it.” 

Weiss averts her gaze, “Shut up…”

“I love you, too.” Ruby replies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might seem like a small, unimportant detail...  
> But pay attention to that bracelet, it will have some significance.   
> Things seem to be going just fine, don't they? Let's hope they remain that way.


	4. The Coming Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Vytal Festival has arrived. Let's hope nothing happens...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My co-writer, xx-whiterose, wrote the first half of the chapter.

**Location:** Vale, Amity Arena/Beacon Academy.   
Friday, May 8th   
_[The Coming Storm]_

The first day of the Vytal Festival snuck up faster than any of the girls could have expected.

They’ve been training frequently for the past month, both in teams, doubles and singles. They’ve already worked out their plans should they get past the team stage. Yang and Weiss will partake in the doubles round if they get through. Despite some of their opinions of each other, they work well as a team. 

Weiss holds speed and accuracy, while Yang possesses brute strength and close combat abilities. They can attack from both distances, which was definitely a good trait to have in a combo battle. Then, if they were lucky enough to get into the final round, everything will fall to Yang.

Ruby plucks her whistle from her study desk, gently blowing the dust off the top before bringing it to her lips. 

The rest of her team is still asleep, but time is ticking away! They need to be in Amity Theatre to sign in before noon, but if they wait past ten every student in Remnant would be there to sign up. If they leave within the hour, they can be there just as registration opened.

Ruby takes a breath, closing her eyes as she forces as much of the air back out into the whistle with a shrill scream. 

The ring wakes all the members of RWBY immediately. Blake physically jumps from her bed, her hair standing on edge in fright, while her partner just snorts awake. The blonde groans, sitting up to reveal her bird nest bedhead. Drool slides down her chin, dripping down onto her thigh and pooling on the bed sheets beneath her.

Weiss groans loudly, slipping beneath her pillow and holding it over her ears. She hears footsteps to her left, her precious sound barrier is yanked from her face only to meet silver eyes peering back down at her.

“Wake up, sleeping beauty!”

“I am going to sell your body to the black market,” Weiss grumbles groggily, earning a smirk from Ruby in response. The younger girl drops the pillow back onto Weiss’ face, much to the heiress’ surprise. 

“Good morning, team RWBY!” Ruby cheers, throwing her whistle onto her bunk with a quick toss, “Today’s the day!”

“It’ll be your last if you keep that up.” Weiss emerges from under her pillow again with an annoyed glare on her face, using her palm to rub the sleep from her eyes.

Blake’s hair slowly settles, her wild eyes shrinking back to their normal size as she slowly begins to wake up while Yang falls from her top bunk with a hard thump. The blonde reaches up, cracking her bones as she stretches.

“Hell yeah it is!” she exclaimed, all her exhaustion having disappeared in a flash. Weiss is next to rouse from her bed, her long hair heavy on the back of her head. Blue eyes flicker to the alarm clock that sat on the bookshelf between their bunks, another wave of irritation forming as she realised what time it was.

“Ruby, it’s 8AM,” Weiss grumbles, “The registration doesn’t close until _noon_.”

“You know what they say, Weiss,” Ruby quickly responds, throwing a ridiculous amount of unhealthy junk into a backpack she’d picked out. She stops for a moment, standing up to look her tired and annoyed partner in the eyes. “Early bird gets the worm… or something like that!”

Another tired huff escapes the heiress as she groggily reaches for her clothes, already heading towards the shower. Perhaps a long, hot shower could convince her not to murder her girlfriend.

“So why are we leaving so early?” Blake askes, pulling her soft brush through her pitch black hair carefully, moving slowly as she passes over her ears. Yang is already halfway through a nutrient bar, but she turns to listen to her sister's response with mild interest. 

Ruby closes the small bag in front her with a snap of a button, before wiggling into the leather straps that were linked around her arms.

“If we waited, we would have been caught in the rush.” She says as she approaches the bathroom door, using her foot to catch the edge of it and nudge it open. “I know you enjoy long showers, but try to hurry up, Princess!” Ruby calls to her girlfriend, “We need to be there before the First-Years.” She pauses, “Wow that felt weird to say…” 

“Which part?” Yang asks her sister. Mischief dawns in her eyes and she leans over to take Blake’s hairbrush from her hand, the faunus gapes at her in shock. “That’s mine,” Yang said with a smirk, “see?” The blonde tapped the B engraved into the back of it. “B for Babe.”

Weiss swings the door open, her hands grasping the frame as Ruby steps back. “Just for that, I’m going to take extra long.” She pushes Ruby back with two fingers to her forehead, her white brows narrowed and her eyes icy. “Eventually, you will learn not to rush me!”

Ignoring the very aggravated heiress, Blake reaches over to snatch the hairbrush back from Yang, letting out an annoyed huff when Yang simply rolled back out of her reach. “Give it back!” She laughs and hands the brush back to Blake. “Thank you!”

The bathroom slams shut, leaving a very bewildered Ruby standing outside of it. She lets out a huff, turning away as Blake finishes up with her hair and grabs her own uniform. “Says the girl who always wants to be precisely on time, or arrive nearly forty minutes early…”

“I heard that!” Weiss hollers.

* * *

About thirty minutes later, the four girls were boarding one of the airships heading towards Amity with a few third-year teams and JNPR. 

While the other team are discussing their battle techniques, RWBY sits at the window of the ship, Yang and Blake staring down at the passing world beneath them with Yang making little quiet jokes that seem to amuse Blake.

Much to Ruby’s displeasure, most of the other students have already arrived and there was a long line for registration, which means it was more likely some other teams would approach them and want to strike up a conversation. 

Thankfully, they managed to avoid the younger students and register their team for the tournaments. 

Weiss, Blake, and Yang only had a minimum of thirty seconds to prepare themselves for Ruby’s inevitable geek-out when they entered the stadium. Weiss hums peacefully, enjoying the last few moments of peace before the obsession began, she notices Blake’s ears flicker next to her, preparing herself for the shrill. 

Nothing happened.

A consistent ringing forms in Weiss’ head to replace the usual shrieking, she casts a glance to her partner and exchanges an equally puzzled look with the rest of her teammates. Ruby was quiet… 

She isn’t even looking at the practice fight taking place in front of them. They were first-years from Haven going against a younger team from Beacon… 

Which meant _new, never before seen weapons_. Without saying a word, Ruby leads them to their row, she sits in the last seat and Weiss takes her place next to her, fixing her attention on the spar below. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Yang sitting next to her. 

_‘Really, Blake?’_ The heiress shoots her friend an annoyed glare, and the faunus simply smiled at her in turn. 

“Ruby,” Yang murmurs, leaning over Weiss so Ruby could hear her, “you okay?” Weiss groans, leaning into the back of her seat. Great, she was going to be in the middle of the conversation. 

Ruby looks at her sister with a smile, “Yeah, I’m fine,” her brows knit together, “why?” Weiss’ eyes glance at Yang, her brow twitching.

“Because there are weapons down there, and you’re not geeking.” Yang says flatly,“Who are you and what have you done to my lit-” She’s cut off by Weiss pushing the palms of her hands into the sister’s faces to shove them back and out of her way as she gets up. “Was that necessary, Ice Queen?” Yang asks sharply as she moves into Weiss’ seat, the heiress sits down and let out a relieved sigh. 

Blake stifles a laugh and Weiss glares over at her, “I assumed that, after four years, you two would learn not to talk over my lap.”

Ruby cracks a smirk and Weiss meets her gaze challengingly, trying to read her girlfriend’s eyes. Yang ignores the two of them and takes a bite of her pretzel. “You like it when I do it.” The reaper says suddenly, causing Yang to choke.

“What does that even _mean_?!”

Weiss scowls at the brunette and faces away from her, breathing in deep to relax her anxious nerves. She could hear Blake giggling from next to her with a hand over her mouth, while Ruby frantically tries to help her possibly choking sister. “If that… means what I think it does… That is something,” Yang coughs, “I would rather not have heard…”

Ruby smiles sheepishly at her, Weiss notices her whispering an apology to the blonde out of the corner of her eye. Weiss rolls her eyes once, opening her mouth to scold the brunette-

A loud, shrill noise echoed through the stadium and the team flinched back, sighing with relief when the announcer came on to announce the winners of the match. 

“Who is up next?” Yang asks, taking another bite at her soft pretzel.

Blake answers her, “Team TSTL(Thistle) from Mistral versus Team OLVE from Vacuo.”

They were first-years if Weiss remembers correctly. 

As the previous teams exit the arena, the next enter with their weapons. She hears a concealed gasp from Ruby, the younger girl sitting forward in her seat with her silver eyes wide and trained on the students below. Yang elbows Weiss with the shadow of a smirk tugging at her lips, “Hey, she’s back!” She says with a slight gesture towards Ruby.

Weiss glances up at the board to briefly read the names of the teams.

The screen is quickly replaced with a zoomed in camera angled at the Vacuo students. 

“That just looks like a regular ol’ sword.” Yang says thoughtfully. “The Amethyst Lynch girl from Team OLVE.” She clarifies.

Weiss’ eyes quickly find the mentioned longsword and she gives it a quick examination, searching for a dust barrel or a revolver. Nothing. “That’s… Strange.”

“Jaune has a simple sword.” Blake reminds them gently, she pauses for a moment and frowns. “Then again, he did upgrade it when we were second-years…”

“Well,” Ruby says without looking at them, “some people just prefer the classics. Nothing wrong with tha-” The announcer shouted for the battle to begin and Amethyst’s sword clicks into a double-bladed whip. “Woah!” Ruby grins, “A sword that turns into a whip, Weiss, you need that!”

The heiress was quick with her response, “No I absolutely do not.”

Yang lets out a snort. “Blakey could turn her ribbon into a whip~” Weiss’ stomach churned.

Ruby’s expression became stoic, lacking her previous enthusiasm. “No, you would abuse it.”

Down in the area, Team OLVE has backed Team TSTL into the rocky terrain, giving the Mistrallian team the home advantage. Each person is engaged in a fight, weapons occasionally clattering at close range and rockets of dust and bullets being shot from afar. 

Amethyst Lynch was using her bladed whip against her rifle-using opponent, Slade Ingerman, snapping the bullets as they collided with the metal of her weapons and sending them flying back at the boy. He seems to notice an opening in her tactic and he throws himself backwards again as Amethyst cracks her whip, he reels back and as the girl calls the whip back to her side to strike again, the boy seizes the opportunity to fire a bullet at her.

The team leader of OLVE, Ocean Aguilera, was in a match with Tenné Browning. The latter seemed to heavily rely on her semblance, teleportation. She could teleport out of the way of a hit, but she couldn’t completely leave the battle as it would only move her to another angle. As Ocean shifts her gun into a double-bladed sword and swings at Tenné, the other girl would activate her semblance and fire a shot from behind. 

Weiss winces when Ocean swings her blade in a complete circle just as her opponent teleports away, the side of the weapon collides with Tenné’s side and the first-year was thrown off her game. Her aura becomes too low and her name cancels out on the board. “Shouldn’t have relied on your semblance…” Weiss whispers. 

A loud explosion echoes from the arena and Ruby almost throws herself over the railing, wearing a large grin on her face. Weiss chuckles at her girlfriend’s excitement. The teams run from the black smoke, one of the members cancelling out due to low aura. “Awww, the guy with the cool dust sword is out!” Viridian Nobbley, he’d gone up against Turq Moore. “The dust backfired on him… Hope he didn’t…” Ruby trailed off. 

Weiss’ brow twitches and she sends her partner a glare, Ruby shrinking away from her with a nervous smile. “Love you?” Ruby murmurs. She sighs and refocuses her attention on the teams below them.

The big screen zooms in on Ebony Stone from Team OLVE, showing a replay of the green-haired woman being flung from the arena after being hit by Laura Green from TSTL.. 

“Well, I guess Team TSTL makes it to the next round.” Yang mentions with a puzzled look. “I wonder how Ocean feels about her whole team being beat.”

“Well, to be fair,” Weiss starts as the teams exit the arena, Ocean checking on her teammates, “TSTL did corner them in an unfamiliar terrain.”

Yang shrugged in agreement, “So I’m gonna go get something to drink. Y’all want anything?” The other three responded with a soft ‘no thank you’.

The next match would be between Team Leaders of FSBT(Frostbite) from Atlas Academy, and Team DDLN(Dandelion)from Beacon. 

Alex Frank, team leader of FSBT, entered the arena wielding a flute as a weapon. He was pale-skinned and wore a plaid shirt, a sweater vest, and a pair of white jeans. He was apparently one of Atlas Academy’s most prized students…. The sleazy grin he flashed at the camera was sickening, 

Danny Richards is the team leader of DDLN, he was a short, bleach-blonde fellow with a small build and tacky clothing. His weapon of choice was a bow and arrow that transformed into a rifle. He seemed rather shy and withdrawn, but stood proud and confident in the presence of his team, he’d been a late addition to Beacon to replace his team’s former leader, who unfortunately dropped out a month into the school year.

The announcer’s voice boomed over the stadium. “Begin!”

* * *

Everything smells of smoke, everything _tastes_ of smoke. Her _brand new_ combat outfit is _covered_ in soot that she would likely never get out. Her lungs are tight and constricted, she feels like she was coughing out fireballs and her entire chest is engulfed in flame. 

_How_ had her aura been depleted so easily?! She’s spent years building it up! Clearly she had to train harder, if her aura couldn’t withstand something like that, she’d never survive out on the battlefield! 

Weiss shrugs her bolero off and reaches behind her to untie her corset, her chest flinches and she lets out a choked cough, her throat tight. Weiss breathes in a few calming breaths as an attempt to loosen the congestion before slipping her dress off. The dorm room door opens and she looks over her shoulder to see Ruby entering the room, closing the door quietly behind her. 

She scowls in disdain. “Have you come to tell me that it’s alright?” She asks her girlfriend, refusing to meet her eyes as humiliation burns inside her like a raging fire. “That ‘everybody loses every once in a while’? That ‘I’ll get it next time, just be positive’? How about ‘you tried your best’? Any of those? Take your pick.”

“No.” Ruby answers, unfazed by the heiress’ words. “I came to see if you were okay…” A pair of arms softly slides around Weiss’ waist and a feather-like kiss is placed to the back of her neck, Weiss reluctantly places her hands over Ruby’s. “Shouldn’t you go see the nurse?” Weiss grunts her response and Ruby’s arms tighten around her, rubbing at her abdomen. “But what about the baby?”

Weiss’ brow twitches. She moves from her embrace and fixes her eyes on her girlfriend, her brows narrow and her voice firm. “Ruby. There is no baby.”

“But there will-”

She cuts her off. “There probably never will be, Ruby!” Weiss shouts at her, rage shooting through her body like a bullet. “If I can’t handle a hit like that out on the arena-” Her throat tightens as another cough escapes her, grunting in frustration with the discomfort in her throat. 

She bites her lip as the anger dies down to a simmer of worry, her hand wraps around her belly and her other reaches out to steady herself against the wall. “I won’t be able to protect my baby if I can’t handle a hit like that…” 

She wouldn’t be able to protect her friends, her family, in the face of danger. 

“You say that like you’ll have to do it alone.” Ruby mutters to her, “I’ll be here to help…”

“I don’t need help.” Weiss says coldly, running her hand through her bangs and sighing heavily. Her body trembles and she chokes out a strangled cough; she wasn’t feeling it anymore so that means her aura was regenerating. “I need to learn to do this stuff on my own, Ruby… I’m stronger than this.” Her hand turns into a fist, her nails digging into her palm. “I just need to practice more.”

“Weiss, please. Not in your condition, you’re physically exhausted...” Ruby murmurs worriedly. She comes to her side and wraps an arm around her shoulders. “And, can you wait and see if it worked this time or not? We can always wait until after graduation to try again.”

Weiss shrugs out of her embrace and slips a clean outfit on, ignoring Ruby’s concerned gaze. As she withdraws Myrtenaster, a hand lay on top of hers to stop her. 

“No.” Ruby says with a stern voice, “You’re in no condition to go out and train, Weiss,” the older woman’s eyes widen at the audacity, but Ruby isn’t fazed, “you just had your aura depleted and you’re still recovering. Training won’t do you any good, you need to rest.” 

“Ruby.” Weiss’ voice matches her girlfriend’s, but with a more icy edge. “Do you know what happens before we graduate?” 

The brunette frowns. “Yes, there is a huntsman assessment that you need to pass before earning your license.”

There was a team assessment, and a singles round. If the team passes, they are legally registered as a whole. If one wins during the singles round, they earn their solo license, meaning they can split from the team whenever. If one were to lose, the others’ chances of working together are lost as well. Weiss didn’t want to hold them back… 

“What happened out there in the arena could happen during the assessment.” Weiss explains, jerking her weapon away from Ruby and attaching it to her side. She starts for the door, placing her hand on the handle and looking back at her girlfriend. “I _will not_ have so many years of training go to waste.”

“Weiss-” Ruby reaches after her.

“Yang is up next for the singles’ round tomorrow,” she tells her gently without looking back at her, “I’ll be there to watch.”

Weiss opens the door and leaves the room, not wanting to remain there for any longer than she should. Ruby doesn’t understand, she was accepted into Beacon two years earlier because of her skills. Ruby _surpassed_ her, and now she is treating her as though she was made of glass. 

Unacceptable.

She has to become stronger, for herself _and_ her friends, for her _family_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments/thoughts are greatly appreciated! Even if it's just "<3"  
> ~Dixie


	5. Undesired

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, well this story-line seems a little familiar. Wonder where it could be from? Let's add a little twist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Initiating time-skip! If you'll look back at the tags, I said that there will be references towards canon and travel.
> 
> This is where the true story actually begins! Well, part one of it.

**Location:** Atlas, Schnee Mansion.    
Monday, June 1st   
_ [Undesired]  _

She could still hear the violent roars of the Grimm, see the lifeless bodies of both faintly recognisable students and civilians alike, the sound of weapons clashing and the terrified screams of the defenseless community. She felt the exhaustion from overworking herself trying to defend her friends, and her school. She’d been running on empty, but she kept running for the sake of Beacon, for the sake of her family.  
  
She remembers seeing the limp form of Yang laying out in the school’s courtyard, unconscious with her freshly severed arm bandaged but still bleeding, and Blake right next to her and grasping at her own bleeding wound. Ren and Nora were with them, defeated and exhausted. Sun stood nearby, nervously watching over them and awaiting the arrival of the medical emergency airship.   
  
She’d followed Ruby in her search for Pyrrha and helped her partner up the tower; Weiss remained at the base waiting for her return. She’d been running low on dust and had just summoned a line of fire up her blade to fend off an Ursa when a bright, blinding white light covered the entire area, the Grimm around her dissolving into nothingness.   
  
Drained, she collapsed. 

The next few memories are foggy, clouded by a ringing, white noise. She vaguely remembered Sun finding her and mentioning something about Ruby. The next thing she’d known, she’d found herself on top of the ruined tower and standing before a frozen dragon, with the blurred image of Qrow standing a few feet away cradling Ruby’s limp body. Her next memory was sitting in the medical airship next to her unconscious girlfriend, having been informed that she’d somehow entered a coma.    
  


Yang woke soon the nurses stabilized her, but she remained groggy and dazed from blood loss. One of the first questions she’d asked upon waking up was where her partner was, and what happened. Sun informed her of everything he knew. Blake had already disappeared by the time Weiss had returned.   
  
As the nurses were tending to other injured students, Weiss noticed her father’s ship approaching the fallen school, coming to bring her back home…

He embraced the role of a worried, fretting father, acting as though his daughter’s safety was important to him. He requested that she join him on the airship and she refused, not wanting to leave her injured teammates behind; Jacques got the upperhand and managed to convince her to return home. 

Yang, conscious enough to understand what was happening, promised her that Ruby would be alright. Reluctantly, she’d given her girlfriend’s forehead a kiss before following her father onto the airship.

The next day, she learned that Beacon had been thoroughly evacuated with the exception of a few professors. There wasn’t any news yet about the survivors. 

  
Weiss’ eyes slowly drift to the photograph framed by her window, a white chess piece sitting neatly beside it. She glides over to it, her hand tracing the wooden edge of the frame before picking it up to look at the picture pressed to it. It was a photo of team RWBY at the start of their first year, all smiling and packed together, with the words _“New friends~”_ written across the top corner in red marker.  
  
Weiss’ grip tightens, her gaze lingering on herself and Ruby. She remembers taking that photo not too long after the four of them had started to really bond with each other. She can almost hear the rushed _“Hurry, we’ve only got a few seconds!”_ before the picture was snapped. It used to sit on the bookshelf between their beds, and it had for years. Weiss had requested it when she had her personal items shipped back from Beacon. Or, what was left of them.  
  
Tears fill her eyes the longer she stares at the sight of Ruby, her thumb subconsciously caressing the picture. She hasn’t heard anything about Ruby’s condition since she’d returned to Atlas; her decision to return was a mistake, a moment of weakness. 

She had tried desperately to get in contact with someone, with Yang or someone. She’d even asked her sister if she had happened to have Qrow’s number, but to no avail.   
  
“Miss Schnee.” She is reeled from her thoughts at the sound of Klein’s voice, “Your father requests your presence in his office…”   
  
The woman turns her attention towards the short man standing at her doorway. She gave a small, strained smile in response. “Thank you, Klein…” She answered faintly.  


* * *

Her Father had summoned her to his office to  _ inform  _ her of the charity event she would be  _ required _ to perform at in honor of Beacon in the coming weeks. 

As she’s leaving, he told her that she would need to meet some suitors later in the day and Weiss reluctantly accepted, knowing that there was no way out of what her Father had planned. He feigns optimism and tells her to meet him in the Foyer.

The first suitor is a man by the name of Charlie Matthews, he is seven years older than Weiss and he was the heir to a machinery company. He had chocolate brown hair and stone-colored eyes, although he was only twenty-seven years old, his face and saddened gaze spoke otherwise. He had a story to tell, if only he would open up; wise beyond his years, he was revealed to be a rather intriguing person to converse with.

When asked why he was chosen to meet with her, he informed Weiss that he was not searching for another lover and misunderstood her father’s request.. It turned out that Charlie had been married three years prior, but his wife was killed during a Grimm attack when she was expecting their first child. He’d watched her get mauled with his own eyes… 

Jacques, unfortunately, did not seem to like him considering all he wanted was their alliance, but he would be an excellent trading partner. Weiss would keep that in mind for when she inherited the company.  
  
The second a young man called Jett Oswind, he had ebony hair and heterochromia green and brown eyes. His hair was wild and untamed, momentarily reminding Weiss of her partner’s natural hairstyle. Jett was an Atlas Academy graduate and high-ranked within the Atlesian military. He was only selected to humor her considering he wielded a double-bladed weapon and he’d unlocked his semblance at a young age.  
  
Because of this, Jett turned out to be a rather boastful person. While he and Weiss were left alone, the only thing that he would talk about was that he was only five years old when he discovered his semblance: time manipulation. Believing it to be the most powerful semblance in all time, he offered to show it to Weiss and she begrudgingly accepted.  
  
His attempt to impress her was pausing time for sixty seconds, and when he’d resumed time, he’d tried to surprise her by predicting everything that would happen within the next minute: She’d be handed a bouquet of roses, a fancy limoscene would arrive to chaufer them through Atlas’ plaza, she would mysteriously lose her balance and the young man would ‘jump to her rescue’, and they would attend their expected date.

Needless to say, she was not impressed.  _ Ruby  _ had done better than that to impress her, and it wasn’t even intentional.

After dismissing Jett, Weiss requests to have the final suitor brought in. This is the last man she was expected to meet today by her understanding, and much to her relief. She’ll breeze through the interaction and send him on his way just as done with the previous two men, or at least that’s what she was intending to do. The smile on her father’s face implies otherwise. . .

Dread pools in the pit of her stomach as the mansion’s large doors slide open and a young man with well-combed and gelled blonde hair enters the room. Jacques descends the staircase to greet the man, momentarily catching her by surprise. “It is such a delight to have you here, Mister Graham.” Weiss’ brows furrow in suspicion upon hearing her father’s genuinely merry voice.

“Please, call me Raye.” The younger man smiles politely as his sharp yellow eyes maneuver towards Weiss, the kindness was instantly replaced with disdain. “So,” he says, ambling over to the heiress, “you must be Weiss Schnee.” Raye pauses in his tracks just in front of Weiss, scrutinizing her appearance. “The rest of the women from your family lineage are captivating. . . What happened to you?” The man inquires.

Rage brewers inside of Weiss’ chest, it took every ounce of willpower she had to keep her expression neutral. “I suggest you watch your words.” She answers carefully, returning his judgmental stare.

Raye tchs and waves his hand dismissively as he turns to walk away. “I think it’s safe to say that you  _ Schnee  _ women fail to know your place within the presence of a man.” He stops and peers over his shoulder at the young woman, the unreadable smirk in his eyes causing a chill of fear to race up Weiss’ spine. “Not to worry, we will establish that soon enough.”

Weiss knows very well what that meant. 

Raye was yet another self-entitled young man who firmly believes that the male gender stands superior to women, something Weiss had unfortunately come to accept about privileged families, such as her own.

“Are you threatening me?” 

“Of course not,” Raye answers sweetly as a wicked smirk curls at his lips, “but, your actions will have consequences, sweetheart.”

She feels a hand on her back. “Weiss,” her father says kindly, but sharply, “why don’t you accompany Mister Graham into town and introduce him to everybody?” She should have expected this considering he seems to favor the nasty young man.

Raye grins in response, tearing his eyes from Weiss as though she’d never been there at all. His voice is sickeningly sweet; “A splendid idea, Mister Schnee!” Gods, that name was so wrong. “Consider it a date.”  
  
Weiss rolls her eyes, swallowing her hatred for him as an attempt to bury her emotions. “Sure, why not?” It wasn’t like she had a choice anyway. 

Raye eyes her again and Weiss makes sure to match his glare, he scoffed in disbelief and she scowls at him. “I suppose your beauty and your family’s fortune will have to do, your attitude is absolutely dreadful for a woman of your etiquette.” He smiles as her father squeezes her shoulder in warning and dismisses himself. 

Raye lifts his hand and snaps his fingers, grabbing the staff’s attention immediately. “Have a limousine prepared for myself and my dear  _ Princess _ ,” upon hearing the oh-so familiar pet name, a snake-like feeling crawls up Weiss’ spine and she has to bite her tongue, “we have a long day ahead of us.”

Reluctance in her step, she follows the young man to the door to wait for the arrival of the requested vehicle. “Do wipe that scowl off your face,” he mutters, looking at her with lackluster eyes, the order evident in his voice.   
  
The woman simply glares at him and Raye lets out a heavy sigh. A white limo was approaching. The second limo of the day. “I suppose it cannot be helped,” he starts his descent towards the vehicle, “but if you dare to defy yet another order, there will be severe consequences.” The limo parks and a scrawny, middle-aged man steps out to respectfully open the door for them.

“After you, Ms. Schnee.” Raye smiles sweetly, offering a slight bow as the limo’s door opens. “Ladies first, no?” Weiss can see the sneer behind the man’s false kindness, indicating that he had no plans of being polite other than to simply impress her father. The heiress mirrors the scowl behind Raye’s yellow eyes before stepping into the limousine. “What? No gratitude for your future spouse?”

Weiss glares at him, “You are  _ not  _ my spouse.”

Upon the smell of chocolate assaulting her senses, a wave of nausea suddenly washed over Weiss and her stomach churns in discomfort. Resisting the urge to gag, she sits down as far away from the vehicle’s refreshments as she possibly can. Raye joins her a few seconds later and the door is closed, trapping them both in the small space. 

Raye makes himself comfortable, tilting his head back as the limo comes to life. “It would be wise of you to consider your words before speaking in my presence while we’re inside the restaurant.” His gaze becomes hard and unforgiving, “I don’t take too kindly to disrespect.”

“How ironic. . .” Weiss replies with a challenging smirk, “Neither do I.”

He sighs in annoyance and sits up, “I hear you will be singing at the charity event?” He smiled, “That’s thoughtful, helpful to after what happened to-”

Weiss glares at him. “Oh, don’t act like you care.”

The rest of the escort ride remains silent. 

Raye takes it upon himself to try a bite of the fancy chocolates stashed in the vehicle, followed by a swig of some red wine, he turned out to be a light-weight drinker and Weiss could tell he was already tipsy by the time they’d arrived at the restaurant. 

She raises her head to look at the restaurant before her; a tall, marbled two-story block building looms over her majestically, cracks of grey elegantly spread through the white stone and lit up by a brilliant, warm orange sparkle of the lights dangling overhead. The entryway is arched and structured from the same texture; ceiling lights were applied into the roof to resemble a spot-light.

They move through the glass doors and Weiss stays behind Raye as he saunters into the building, informing the waiter of their reservation before leading the heiress to their table. The interior matches the exterior, the walls are a slick, marbled white with glass lanterns appropriately positioned and lit to contrast the speckled golden floors beneath her feet. 

It was a beautiful, astonishing place, but it was only impressive upon first glance.

Weiss seats herself at the polished, wooden table, “For a man so obsessed with proper etiquette, you certainly do not look the part.” She mockingly gestures towards the man’s slightly slumped over posture, knowing it was a result of the alcohol brewing through his system. 

She has to keep her guard up around Raye. Anasty, drunken man alone with a young woman could result in unspeakable things.

Raye scowls at her. “Best keep your mouth shut, my dear.” He smirks as the waitress returns with his pre-requested wine. “We would not want that mouth of yours getting you into trouble, would we?”

Weiss raises a brow, unthreatened by his remark. The waitress scampers away, her eyes wide and her body tense. “I don’t know,” the heiress answered, matching his sneer, “would we?”

The man across from her takes another long sip from the beverage, irking the young woman with his ignorance. He lets out a heavy sigh and sets the glass down, his yellow eyes peering into Weiss’ icy blue ones. “Do not look at me like that!” Raye orders her, his words vaguely slurred.

Weiss sighs and averts her eyes, unfortunately knowing better than to look a man in the eyes. Hearing the restaurant door’s bell ring, she glances up to see who was entering. She’d might as well busy herself with something if she can’t make conversation with Raye, not like she wants to anyway.

Subconsciously, she plays with the bracelet on her wrist.

Her heart falls as a young woman with short, black hair enters, her wild bangs swept to the right side of her face and her eyes covered. She wears an expensive maroon dress shirt with a leather black bolero and grey leggings to match; there’s a symbol on the back of her jacket that Weiss can’t decipher. Weiss’ entire world almost fades to black before the young woman looks over at her, obviously having felt someone’s eyes on her.

The woman’s eyes are green.

“Are you listening to me, Woman?” Raye’s cold voice reels her out of her thoughts and she turns her attention back towards him, narrowly avoiding direct eye contact. Raye scowls at her. “What the fuck were you looking at, bitch?” The man turns himself around to follow Weiss’ line of sight and his brows narrow, “Admiring  _ other women  _ in the presence of your date, I see…” 

Weiss resists the urge to roll her eyes. “Well, the sight I see sitting before me isn’t all that pleasing to the eye.”

Raye just snorts his response and takes another swig of his alcohol, lifts his hand to his mouth and lets out a strangled cough and a dark thought briefly raced through Weiss’ head. She looks away again as the man recomposes himself, his proper form disintegrating with every sip he takes. Perhaps if he gets drunk enough, they would be sent out of the restaurant. 

Oh, she could only hope… 

Maybe she could request a safe ride home, away from him. Raye is turning out to be an aggressive, easily provoked drunk. 

Well, at least he wasn’t an annoying, overly sweet…   
  
Flirtatious…   
  
Always seeking her affections…   
  
Occasionally horny drunk always addressing her as ‘Nicey Weissy’. 

The image of silver eyes staring down at her with genuine affection flickering through them came to the front of her mind. 

_ ‘Ruby.’  _ Weiss’ heart twists and she clutches the edge of the table, remorse flooding the pit of her stomach with a boulder-like weight. She closes her eyes and her jaw clenches, there is a burning in her eyes and her breathing becomes heavy. 

Oh who was she kidding?   
She _loved_ it.   
She _loved_ her.

She misses her overly affectionate partner, she misses how she’ll ramble when she gets nervous, and how excited she becomes about weaponry… She misses the late nights where they would stay up talking about meaningless things, she misses seizing every little opportunity that presented itself to them to shower the other with love.

She misses insisting that they need to focus on their studies before an exam, only to find herself wrapped up in Ruby’s comforting embrace the next morning…

She even misses the few times Ruby managed to convince her to skip class to have fun… 

She misses her Rose.

“Here are your orders,” the waitress’ voice manages to snap her back to her senses and she reaches up to wipe away the forming tears with her palm, the waitress smiles at her as the dish was set in front of her, “Your husband is a gentleman to have ordered your favorite before you even arrived!”

Her stomach churns. Is that what this douche told the restaurant’s staff? That they were married? 

“He is not my husband,” Weiss answers bluntly, ignoring the glare she receives from Raye, “and he never will be.”

Apprehension and unease becomes evident in the waitress’ eyes as she delivers the second and last dish, she quickly strolls away to leave the two alone. Weiss fixes her attention on Raye, whose drunken gaze stares back at her in sheer disapproval. He lets out a sigh. “I do hope that our offspring do not inherit that nasty attitude of yours…”

Weiss scoffs in incredulity, “Who said I am having children with you?” He was delusional. 

Raye simply cocks a brow and swishes the remaining wine around once in his glass. He takes another long gulp and sets the empty glass down, “Unfortunately, you do not have a choice.”

Fear races up the woman’s spine upon the implication, she remains as stoic as possible as rage twinges at her chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

Raye chortles and waves his hand dismissively, “You are a woman.” He says, “A woman’s job is to bear heirs for her spouse, nothing more.” He hums and offers the second glass of wine to her, an evil glint hidden in his yellow eyes. “Drink?”

_ ‘Pay attention to detail.’  _ Winter’s voice murmurs inside of her head instantly.  _ ‘One thing unnoticed could cost you your life.’  _

Weiss scruinitizes the young man and her eyes flicker from the glass to Raye, replaying the recent events through her head. 

He’d lead her out to a fancy, five-star restaurant and pre ordered everything, consistently warning her that her actions would have consequences. Upon receiving their drinks, he applied a honey-like liquid to one of the glasses and switched them around when he thought Weiss wasn’t paying attention.

He’d mentioned  _ children _ , referring to himself as her spouse… 

The drink was spiked. 

Weiss pushes herself away from the table and stands to her feet, “I have to go.” She says bluntly. Raye watches her with judgment and unimpressed as she stiffly walks out of the building, leaving him alone at the table; Weiss ignores all the prying eyes and puzzled whispers.

This would definitely backfire on her, but she didn’t care. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always love hearing what you guys think!  
> ~Dixie


	6. Thin Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Date: Friday, June 5th

Raye hasn’t approached her since their failure of a dinner date and is often found hanging around Jacques, watching and learning as though he were his shadow, but, strangely, her father doesn’t seem to mind. 

Raye seems to have completely dismissed her entire existence since that day, not even sparing her the slightest of glances when they passed in the halls. He looked straight through her as if she were never there in the first place, a ghost that plagued the house he leached from.

Weiss really couldn’t care less. 

In fact, she was glad he was acting as if she wasn't there. She publicly humiliated the young man and left him during the middle of their apparent date, even refusing a ride home with the drunk man, and it obviously stings him to know that. 

Weiss took pride in her accomplishment; deflating a man’s ego by simply walking away. And, it kept him and his disgusting behavior away from her, which she was more than thankful for.

Though Weiss didn’t let her guard down around him. She knew that Raye would not let her get away with what she’d done. He was just waiting, biding his time. She’d made a mental note not to let him find her alone in any way and strictly forbade him from approaching her bedroom. 

She makes sure to sleep with the door locked every night, her senses on high alert and Myrtenaster positioned next to her bedside for easy access. Should she wake up with him anywhere in her room, she would not hesitate to aim to kill, or injure long enough for her father to consider someone else. 

Not that she wanted anyone else, by no means did she want that, she knew she’d have no choice in the end, but _anyone_ was better then Raye at this point.

The night after the so-called 'date', Weiss found herself becoming ill in the mornings, each morning seemingly worse than the last. The brief nausea she felt on the way to the restaurant would come rushing forward, barging through the gates and sweeping through every fibre in her body, numbing her yet tensing every nerve. 

It causes her stomach to ache like Hell, as if someone had punched her in the gut and left her to rot. Weiss had been ill before, but nothing like this. This felt as if the gods were punishing her with hot irons and watching with sick pleasure as she writhed.

She usually managed to keep it under control for the rest of the day. She only had to excuse herself twice when she was called down for breakfast, the smell of her Father and Brother’s morning coffee was strong and sickening, burning at her nostrils and causing her stomach to churn rapidly.

To avoid further humiliation, and her father questioning her behavior, she turned to requesting for her breakfast to be brought upstairs to her bedroom, much to her Father’s displeasure. Whitley, being the smart mouthed brother he was, didn’t help either. Weiss would’ve spilt her coffee on his lap if her father wasn’t watching her.

If Yang were here, she likely would’ve made a pregnancy joke to try and lighten the situation, Ruby, being the overprotective girlfriend she was, probably would’ve immediately panicked and practically dragged her to the nurse to discover what was wrong with her. Blake probably would’ve known before the others due to her keen sense of smell.

A tiny smile tugs at the corner of Weiss’ lips. If she were still back at Beacon, or anywhere with her friends, she would be _hoping_ Yang’s joke was true.

Unfortunately, she knew it wasn’t… 

The more logical reason for it was Raye doing something to her food as punishment for humiliating him. Her Father likely encourages it too, waiting for something to happen so they could play the ‘caring lover’ and ‘worried father’ roles. They could sue the restaurant out of business as well, for poisoning the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. 

Weiss lets out a weary sigh and tightens the white sash around her waist, swallowing the heavy wave of nausea that rushed up her throat. She turns to examine her appearance in her mirror, taking her comb and brushing her bangs neatly to the side. She wore one of her favorite dresses; a long blue-grey gown, flowing into a white gradient towards her waist and darkening around her shoulders. 

It had belonged to her Mother once upon a time, retrieved and cleaned for the event. Weiss knew it probably suited the frame of her Mother rather than her..

Despite still feeling unwell, her Father had insisted that she join him for a conference meeting concerning the SDC’s next shipment of dust; one of the mines the faunus worked in collapsed due to tremors and many lives were lost, along with their cargo. 

As unsettling as it was, Weiss already knows her Father’s solution: Capture more faunus and send them to work in the mines, pick up where the others had left off and retrieve the remaining dust.

Weiss closes her eyes and takes a step back, tightening her hairpiece. She couldn’t waste any more time. Her Father was likely to be already waiting for her arrival and he would be annoyed if she was late.

Weiss moves away from the mirror and slides her bedroom door open, her eyes snapping up quicker than she could blink to see Raye standing patiently at the other side. Her body tenses up as she steps out to greet him, instinctively reaching for her weapon that wasn’t there.

An eerie vibe floats through the dark hallway, cold heavy air brushing against her skin as she closes her door behind her. She lifts her gaze to meet Raye’s blank yellow pair. She felt like defenseless prey standing beneath the malicious, merciless eyes of its predator. 

Weiss clears her throat. “Hello, Ra-” Her words are cut off by a strong hand lashing out to grab her chin.

The back of her head hits the door and she growls at her attacker, her hands desperately trying to remove herself from Raye’s chokehold. She couldn’t breathe. Raye leans in close and she swallows hard, her nails digging into his fist, deep enough to draw blood. 

She can smell the alcohol off his breath. “Your Father told me that you attended Beacon Academy,” he says without emotion as a smug, sleazy grin grows on his disgusting face, “why don’t you show me what you’ve learned?” 

Weiss snarls at him and chokes back a rough cough, her throat becoming tighter as her lungs scream for oxygen. “Let go of me!” She hisses out at him, feeling like her body was sliding into an electrical shock, she felt like she could pass out, but she also felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Raye raises a brow, unimpressed. “I said let go!”

“I heard you.” He sneers, tightening his grip around her throat and forcing a strangled cough out of her. His hold was strong. “What a pity… I thought huntresses were stronger than this.” He shrugs. Weiss glances down, noticing his stance. A glyph appeared behind him as her summon took form. “Then again, you are a woman, perhaps this was all a hoax to-” 

Weiss grabs Raye’s wrists and pulls as her knee snaps up to crash with his abdomen at full force, prompting an audible grunt from the man and causing Raye’s grip to weaken slightly as he flinches. The man doubles over, giving Weiss the opportunity to snatch his hand down from her throat using her elbows and duck out of his way. “You **bitch**!” Raye’s eyes light up with rage and he reaches for her again-

A heavy, glowing, metal arm shoots out, startling the young man as a hand the size of his head grabs his skull and smashes the side of his face against the wall, pinning him there with a horrified look on his face. 

“Don’t. Touch. Me.” Weiss spat, massaging her chin and approaching the man to look him in the eye. “I _am not_ your ‘wife’. I am _not_ your baby-making machine,” her Arma Gigas’ hand tightens ever so lightly around Raye’s head and he glared at her through one pain-stricken eye, “and I _am definitely_ not marrying your misogynist ass.” She steps away and the summon disintegrates, she turns her back towards the blonde man. 

“Do not follow me.”

* * *

Weiss stares at the table with a blank and unreadable gaze, only half-listening to the bickering in front of her. It’s been two hours since the conference started and they still haven’t agreed on how to handle the collapsed mine and delayed cargo situation. 

Her father didn’t want the mine to be abandoned and instead have it be cleared out, his excuse was that there was still dust that could be collected and sold. He wasn’t happy about the late shipment and wanted replacements for what was lost as soon as possible, he didn’t care how many lives were lost so long as the dust made it out of the mine.

Another man, his status unknown to her, rejected his idea and insisted that they could search for replacement dust elsewhere. His main concern appeared to be the human workers who observed the faunus, instead of those exposed to the potentially fatal elements. 

“What I think we should do is-”

Her Father waves his hand dismissively, irking the middle-aged man sitting across from Weiss. “Do not abandon the mine under any circumstances.” He says with emphasis, tapping his index finger against the polished wooden table. “There is still dust worth millions sitting down there! We cannot afford to lose any more of it.” He visibly bristles, his jaw clenches when the other man attempts to cut him off. “Have it cleared out! Dispose of the bodies and assign more to the job, make them work day and night until you can access the mines again!”

Weiss bites down hard, swallowing her words as her eyes dart between the bickering men. Her hand rests under her chin lightly, hiding the bruised finger marks from her earlier scuffle. 

“I am not talking about the lives of those _creatures_ here, Jacques!” The younger man intervenes, “They don’t matter. I am talking about my employees! My _human_ workers! I can’t just send them to their deaths!”

She resists a roll of her eyes, having heard the same argument worded differently more than twice already. 

Her Father’s voice is like ice. “Then replace them. Breed _new_ workers.”

Weiss exchanges a puzzled glance with the man’s wife for a beat, dread pooling in the pit of her stomach as realization clicks. _Breeding_ meant… She couldn’t accept this. “You can’t do that!” She interjects, standing up to grab their attention, she hears the other woman urgently whisper for her to sit down, a hand nervously tugging at the fabric on her hip, “That’s… Wrong. They’re not concubines!”

“Weiss.” Jacques scowls at her, his voice level but threatening. “Sit. Down.”

The conference room door opens as Weiss reluctantly takes her seat, white tipped fingers clutching the edge of the table as rage ignites within her. A middle-aged, portly man enters with a cup of brewing hot coffee. “Good evening!” He says with an accent as he passes the young woman to sit at her other side. 

Weiss’ nose wrinkles up as a strong, overwhelming stench hits her at full force; something bitter mixed with something rather musky. Her eyes glance over to the man, locating the smell as his coffee and his thick cologne. “My apologies for being late, the wife required my attention.”

Well, that explains the cologne.

“Perfectly understandable!” The young man sitting across from Weiss says, sending his wife a glance that wasn’t returned. She almost gags.

The three of them continue their discussion, words sometimes overlapping enough that Weiss has to shift her focus from one man to another, unable to hear every word the three of them were spewing out. She catches a few in between, making enough sense of them to piece together what the bickering was about. Fortunately, her Father’s previous topic hasn’t been brought up again, but that doesn’t stop them from offering multiple other inhumane solutions...

Nausea begins to rise up inside of her and Weiss straightens her posture as an attempt to push it down. Her stomach churns and rolls, sending queasiness floating through her body like a disease. Her jaw becomes firm and she makes her breaths shallow, her throat constricting as the new man swishes his hot coffee around in his mug, the acid-like smell attacking Weiss’ senses. Her stomach couldn’t decide whether or not her breakfast wanted to come up.

She felt lightheaded.

“Miss Schnee?” She fixes her gaze on the only other woman in the room, noticing her concerned expression. She must’ve made a face of disgust. “You look unwell…” Weiss feels her Father’s eyes on her, watching her intently and suspiciously. She stiffens nervously. “Do you need to be excused?”

Weiss forces a smile in the woman’s direction, “I’m just fine.” 

Her Father smiles sweetly, “If my dear daughter is feeling ill, then of course she is excused.” A chill slithers up her spine and Weiss sends him a blank glare, hiding her scowl under a practiced appreciative look. He’d been waiting for an excuse to send her out of the room after what she’d said, Weiss could see it written in his eyes. “You may return to your room.”

She hesitantly stands to her feet. “Oh, and Weiss?” She looks back at him. “Do not forget about the charity event later this evening.”

“Yes, Father.”

She returns to her room and closes the door, thankful for the breath of fresh air that it grants her. Her eyes immediately move to Myrtenaster, which still remains untouched by her bed. Another quick look around quenches her worries that Raye had rummaged through her things after being beaten by her for a second time. 

Everything remained where it was supposed to, not a single speck of dust on anything within view. She made a quick note to have her drinking water refreshed before taking anymore from it, just in case.

The continuous ticking of her clock worms her way into the front of her mind. She takes a glance at the white marble piece that sat on her fireplace mantle. She still has a few more hours until her show, which gives her hopefully enough time to get over her sickness. 

She kicks off her heels and slips her feet into more comfortable wear, another wave of nausea hitting her like an Ursa. She takes a breath, swallowing the saliva that had built in her mouth. There's no chance she can perform like this, but she knows her father would force her on stage either way. It’s too late to cancel the concert now.

Whatever this was, it had long lasting effects… 

All of a sudden, it’s like a switch is flipped inside of her; her body feels heavy like stone. She was tired. For just a moment, she was conflicted. She wanted to lay down and rest, but she knew she needed to fetch her medication as soon as possible. She couldn’t risk being nauseated and sick during a performance. 

Her feet move on their own towards her bed. 

The medication could wait… She could squeeze in a quick nap. 

Weiss sighs and lays across her bed horizontally, crossing her arms below her chin and lightly touching the cold of her bracelet. She closes her eyes. As soon as she relaxed into the comforter, content spread through her like warm water soaking into the sand. Her muscles loosen with each breath she draws in and she feels the weight of the world slowly lift off her shoulders, her thoughts becoming foggy as a tranquil emotion sweeps across her

* * *

_Her eyes open and a dark red color splashes across her vision, she grunts and lifts her head slowly, looking around and noticing the ground to be solid rock, she pushes herself to sit on her knees and takes in her surroundings. She was on the Beacon grounds._

_“Weiss!” She knows that voice. “Weiss, are you okay?” She turns her head to see Ruby rushing towards her, worry plastered all over her face. The girl skid to a stop in front of her and kneels down, warmth spread through Weiss’ chest as familiar hands cup her cheeks. She giggles and closes her eyes as Ruby taps her forehead against hers._

_For some unknown reason, she knew what was happening, but she felt far away, as if she was watching everything happen through someone else’s eyes… The air felt gentle, filled with excitement with a twinge of unease, but it was overall… relaxed. She glances behind Ruby to see Blake and Yang approaching with smiles on their faces._

_She hears herself whisper a sweet response and she reaches up to grasp Ruby’s wrist, but her hand catches air and her eyes open, finding that her environment has changed. They were gone… She was walking down the halls of the Schnee manor, her eyes moving upwards to see that she was following closely behind her father. The atmosphere was cold, almost unforgiving and thick with apprehension._

_The words exchanged between her and her father were unintelligible, but somehow she knows what was said and her gut twists with disgust. A giant door opens and she finds herself standing at an unfamiliar table in a vague room, there was the shadowy, unclear image of a man sitting across from her. Inside, she knows exactly who the shadows represent. His mouth opens and her father replies, but whatever they discussed falls deaf on her ears._

_His eyes were dark and malicious. Weiss frowns as the distorted appearance of a snake rises behind him like smoke, its eyes matching his._

_“Traitor!” A voice echoes from somewhere around her, Weiss whirls around as an attempt to locate it. She was standing at the docks of Vale. A group of men stood before her, wearing ivory-colored masks covering their eyes and suits of armor. “You’re no better than them!” The voice was more clear now._

_Blake steps out from behind one of the men and a sense of relief washes through Weiss. “You’re okay-” She hears herself say before the faunus interrupts her._

_“You lied to us! You said-...” Her words trail off, but her mouth continues to move as Weiss’ heart drops. Her friend turns away, lifting an ivory mask to her face and glaring back at the heiress. She fades away with the rest of the faunus, leaving Weiss alone with a hollow feeling inside of her stomach._

_She looks down at her feet and her hands turn to fists. A splash of blood suddenly appears in front of her and she cautiously looks up, her breath catching in her throat as tears stung her eyes. “You’re just like everybody else,” Yang says to her, but Weiss is unable to see her. “You run… You abandon those who love you. At least…” the sound of her voice is distorted, “...came back.”_

_“What about our team?” She says._

_She turns around._

_“There is no Team RWBY!” Ruby shouts at her, silver eyes cold and unforgiving. They become sad and remorseful. “Not anymore….”_

* * *

Weiss’ eyes snap open upon hearing a loud pounding on her bedroom door and she shoots upright, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and scrambling off her bed to answer it. Her foot is caught in the sheets and she comes crashing down off the bed, snatching her blankets off with her. Weiss lets out an embarrassed chuckle and carefully stands up again, kicking the blankets off of her foot and quickly strolling towards her door, her anxiety levels rising.

She draws in a deep breath as the unease in her chest fades away. Images flash through her brain as the handle clicks open and she braces herself. A sigh of relief escapes her when she sees the doctor smiling kindly back at her, “Sorry for awakening you, Miss Schnee,” he apologizes nicely, “your father informed me that you were in need of some medication?” He asks, offering a small bottle and a glass of water to her. 

Oh yeah, she’d almost forgotten about that. 

“Yes, thank you.” She thanks him with a small smile and takes the items from him, examining the pill bottle for a moment before realizing that he was walking away. “Oh, uh, how many do I take?” She just required something over the counter. 

“One.” He answers as he turns away to leave, Weiss nods and steps back into her room, she closes the door behind her and lets out a heavy breath. She only has a few hours to prepare for the recital… 

She unscrews the bottle cap and removes one small white pill, popping it into her mouth and taking a quick sip of her water. Weiss sets the glass down and grabs her gown hanging up on her dresser, she mutters under her breath and slides into the bathroom for a shower.

After approximately fifteen minutes, she exits her bathroom and uses her heel to close the door while she tightens her tiara into her blow-dried and brushed white hair. Weiss moves in front of the mirror to examine her appearance and her brows furrow in disapproval, she shakes her head and reaches down to smooth out her dress again. Well, she didn’t particularly like the way her dress was worn, but it’s the one she was required to wear to formal events. 

The colors were a depressing shade of blue-grey, too. 

Weiss turns away and grabs the cup of water on her dresser, failing to notice the empty pill bottle and the misty white floating around inside of the mostly clear liquid. She grimaces as she swallows it, now aware of the acid-like aftertaste. Her chest convulses in retaliation towards the burning sensation and it takes every ounce of her willpower not to allow the liquid to resurface.

She coughs a few times and breathes in deep breaths, the burning in her chest slowly receding. “Weiss!” Her father yells for her from outside the room.

Weiss barely refrains from coughing again. “On my way!”

* * *

She didn’t remember anything.

When did she step on stage? Why were her eyes so unfocused? Why was everything so _bright_? 

Weiss could still feel the nausea stinging at her belly, rolling and churning as bile slowly rises in her throat. Her vision was swimming with black spots and her body trembles, feeling as though every ounce of her strength had escaped her body.

“Miss Schnee!”

The world was spinning, everything was a blur of indescribable colors she’d never seen before. The sounds around her were faint, but loud enough to irritate her surprisingly sensitive ears. The world moved backwards and suddenly there was a blinding white light above her, she could feel footsteps approaching her. Her blurred gaze turned to see what looked to be flashing lights coming from somewhere below her.

Weiss felt cold hands on her shoulders, pulling her up from the ground and attempting to situate her. Her eyes widened and she jerked her arm back, an inaudible voice telling her to fight back. Weiss spun around to look at her attackers, her body unsteady, and all she saw was black obscuring her vision. Her breaths were shallow, but quick.

_‘Grimm!’_ The voice warns her and a splotchy glyph appears beneath her feet, causing her to realize that her body had begun to tremble. Was she afraid? She didn’t feel afraid, she could take on these Grimm no problem! She just needed Myrtenaster.

_She didn’t have Myrtenaster_.

Her chest hurt.

“Miss Schnee, relax.” A voice murmurs from behind her and Weiss whirls to face them, groaning when her vision becomes unfocused and nausea forms in the pit of her stomach, spreading throughout her entire being. She felt heave. “...Schnee… can… stay… hear me?”

Darkness swept over her like a wave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just when you think Raye couldn't be even more of a douche... Don't worry, we won't ever see Raye again in this story. What a relief!

**Author's Note:**

> The prologue references heavily to the story, so if you have any theories... I'd love to hear them! ^^  
> ~Dixie  
> Edit: Apparently this didn't s a v e!  
> Co-planner/Beta Reader: Matchappreciated  
> Co-writer: xx-whiterose


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